BV  3773  .C28  1904 
Candler,  Warren  A,  1857- 
1941. 

Great  revivals  and  the  grea 


GREAT  REVIVALS 


AND    THE 


GREAT  REPUBLIC 


BY  WARREN  A.  CANDLER,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


Scarcely  can  a  more  memorable  exhibition  of 
God  be  found  than  that  presented  by  a  revival  of  re- 
ligion. Historians  seldom  take  note  of  so  obscure 
an  event;  yet  if  the  secret  connections  of  revivals 
with  the  destiny  of  nations  could  be  disclosed,  they 
would  appear  to  be  more  critical  evolutions  of  his- 
tory than  the  Gothic  invasions.  A  volume  has  been 
compiled  narrating  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world.- 
But  more  significant  than  this,  and  probing  deeper 
the  divine  government  of  the  world,  would  be  the 
history  of  revivals.  — -'l//5//«  PItclps. 


Nashville,  Fenn.;  Dallas,  Tex. 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 

South 

Smith  &  Lam^r,  Agents 

1904 

Copyright,  1904, 
By  warren  a.  CANDLER. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

Preface 


I.  Religion  and  National  Life    . 
II.  A  Nation  Founded  by  Faith     . 

III.  PvEVivals  in  the  Old  World  Gave  Rise 

/TO  Colonies  in  the  New 

IV.  The  Great  Awakening    .  . 
V.  The  Wesleyan  Revival     . 

VI.  The  Great  Revival  of  1800      . 

VII.^HE  Revival  of  1858 

VIII.  The  Revival  in  the  Days  of  Moody  and 
Sankey       

IX.  Evangelical  Christianity  the  Security 
OF  THE  Great  Republic  and  the  Hope 
OF  the  World 

X.  The  Next  Great  Awakening  . 

Index  


PAGE 

1 

5 

13 

25 

41 

101 

161 
203 

281 

281 
309 
329 


(vii) 


PREFACE. 


PREFACE. 

This  volume  is  a  study  of  American  history 
from  a  standpoint  which  has  been  generally 
overlooked  by  writers  upon  both  the  secular 
and  the  religious  history  of  the  United  States. 

It  has  been  prepared  with  a  view  of  doing 
good  to  both  Church  and  State  by  the  promo- 
tion of  a  pious  patriotism  and  the  stimulation  of 
a  patriotic  piety.  In  its  pages,  it  is  hoped,  will 
be  found  disclosed  such  a  connection  between 
the  religious  history  and  the  civil  development 
of  the  "Great  Republic"  as  will  inspire  the 
patriot  with  fresh  devotion  and  move  the  Chris- 
tian to  renewed  zeal.  It  is  especially  desired 
that  men  of  all  classes  and  of  all  shades  of 
opinion  may  be  led  to  a  just  appreciation  of 
that  evangelical  and  evangelistic  type  of  Chris- 
tianity which  must  be  the  security  of  our  insti- 
tutions for  the  years  to  come,  as  it  has  been 
their  inspiration  and  preservation  in  the  days 
that  are  gone.  It  is  believed  that  a  careful  and 
unprejudiced  consideration  of  the  facts  pre- 
sented will  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  a  revival- 
istic  religion— the  prevalent  form  of  Christian- 
ity in  American  Churches— is  at  once  the  salva- 
tion of  our  own  country  and  the  hope  of  other 
lands. 

(3) 


4  Authorities  Belied  On, 

The  authorities  relied  on  to  establish  the 
statements  and  confirm  the  inferences  of  the 
book  are  sufficiently  acknowledged  in  the  cur- 
rent of  the  discussion,  but  with  a  view  to  com- 
mending the  restudy  of  certain  valuable  works 
— some  of  which,  strangely  enough,  have  been 
permitted  to  drop  out  of  print — the  author  makes 
mention  of  his  special  indebtedness  in  the  prep- 
aration of  this  volume  to  "Religion  in  Amer- 
ica," by  Robert  Baird;  Tracy's  "History  of  the 
Great  Awakening;"  Jonathan  Edwards's  "On 
Revivals;"  Luke  Tyerman's  Biogi-aphies  of 
Whitefield  and  Wesley;  "A  Handbook  of  Re- 
vivals," by  Henry  C.  Fish,  D.D.;  "History  of 
American  Christianity,"  by  Leonard  Woolsey 
Bacon;  "Christian  Leaders  of  the  Last  Cen- 
tury," by  the  Bishop  of  Liverpool;  "Wesley 
and  Methodism,"  by  Isaac  Taylor;  "Christian- 
ity aid  the  Nation,"  by  Bishop  Charles  B. 
Galloway;  "The  Great  Revival  of  1800,"  by 
William  Speer,  D.D.;  "Christ  in  the  Camp," 
by  Rev.  J.  William  Jones,  D.D. ;  and  the  "Wes- 
ley Memorial  Volume,"  by  J.  O.  A.  Clark, 
LL.D,  Nothing  outside  the  study  of  the  Bible 
itself  could  contribute  more  directly  to  the.  pro- 
motion of  a  national  revival  than  a  general  and 
prayerful  perusal  of  these  highly  interesting 
and  exceedingly  stimulating  treatises. 


I. 

RELIGION  AND  NATIONAL  LIFE. 


To  my  miud  the  great  epochs  in  the  world's  history 
are  marked  not  by  the  f  oimdatiou  or  the  destruction  of 
empires,  by  the  migration  of  races,  or  by  French  rev- 
ohitions.  .  .  .  The  real  history  of  man  is  the  history 
of  religion.  .  .  .  This  is  the  foundation  that  under- 
lies all  profane  history;  it  is  the  light,  the  soul  and  life  of 
history;  without  it  all  history  would  be  profane. — Max 
Midler,  ' 

From  history  we  learn  that  the  great  function  of  re- 
ligion has  been  the  founding  and  sustaining  of  States. 
— Prof.  Sceley. 

Never  was  a  State  founded  that  did  not  have  religion 
as  its  basis. — Bousseau. 

We  know  that  religion  is  the  basis  of  civil  society 
and  the  fruitful  source  of  all  blessing  and  comfort  in 
human  intercourse. — Eclnnind  Burke. 

All  political  and  social  questions  refer  for  their  ulti- 
mate solution  to  the  religious  principle. — Guizot. 
(6) 


I. 

RELIGION  AND  NATIONAL  LIFE, 

The  forms  and  forces  of  national  life  take 
their  rise  in  the  religion  of  the  people. 

National  life  is  feeble  or  strong  according  as 
the  faith  of  the  people  is  faint  or  vigorous. 
The  fruitful  periods  of  a  nation's  history  are 
those  during  which  religion  is  flourishing,  and 
periods  of  religious  declension  are  marked  by 
the  withering  of  all  social  and  political  vitality. 
Literature  and  art  have  no  such  vital  relation  to 
political  institutions.  They  may  flourish  with- 
out invigorating  national  life  and  fail  without 
enfeebling  it.  They  have  often  attained  to  their 
highest  development  during  periods  of  national 
decay,  and  some  of  their  finest  forms  have 
sprung  up  amid  political  ruins.  But  such  is 
not  the  case  with  religion.  When  it  withers 
the  State  wanes.  When  faith  begins  to  perish, 
all  things  else  begin  to  die,  as  if  the  dew  of 
heaven  had  been  denied,  or  the  former  and  the 
latter  rain  had  been  withheld. 

This  was  manifest  in  the  history  of  ancient 

(7) 


8  Atheistic  Governments  Unsteady, 

Israel,  and  not  less  so  in  the  history  of  the 
Grecian  and  Roman  commonwealths.  The  book 
of  Judges  in  the  Old  Testament  is  a  record  of 
backsliding  and  bondage,  and  of  revivals  and 
restored  prosperity.  The  annals  of  Greece  and 
Rome  equally  reveal  the  connection  between  a 
loss  of  faith  and  a  loss  of  power.  Declension  in 
religion  was  followed  by  declension  in  morality, 
and  that,  in  turn,  by  the  enfeebling  of  national 
life  and  the  loss  of  political  freedom. 

The  history  of  modern  France  emphasizes  the 
lesson  taught  by  the  records  of  the  world's 
earlier  governments.  French  governments  have 
lacked  steadiness  and  stability  because  they  were 
not  rooted  in  the  depths  of  religion,  from  which 
spring  the  conservative  and  inspiring  powers  of 
national  life.  Lamartine  lamented  this  fact  in 
the  history  of  his  people.  He  says:  ''I  know, 
and  I  sigh  when  I  think  of  it,  that  hitherto  the 
French  people  have  been  the  least  religious  of 
all  the  nations  of  Europe.  .  .  .  The  repub- 
lic of  these  men  without  a  God  was  quickly 
stranded.  The  liberty,  won  by  so  much  hero- 
ism and  so  much  genius,  did  not  find  in  France 
a  conscience  to  shelter  it,  a  God  to  avenge  it,  a 
people  to  defend  it,  against  that  atheism  which 
was  called  glory. " 


Faith  of  the  Founders.  9 

The  founders  of  the  American  republic,  which 
has  remained  stable  in  spite  of  many  shocks, 
established  it  in  a  nobler  spirit,  and  erected  it 
upon  a  more  enduring  basis.  They  recognized 
the  vital  connection  of  national  strength  and 
religious  life,  and  cherished  faith  as  the  forma- 
tive force  of  the  nation. 

At  the  outset  of  the  War  of  Independence, 
Congress,  by  formal  action,  expressed  its  desire 
"to  have  the  people  of  all  ranks  and  degrees 
duly  impressed  with  a  solemn  sense  of  God's 
superintending  providence,  and  of  their  duty  to 
rely  in  all  their  lawful  enterprises  on  his  aid 
and  direction."  Accordingly,  a  general  fast 
was  proclaimed,  that  the  people  might,  "with 
united  hearts,  confess  and  bewail  their  manifold 
sins  and  transgressions,  and  by  a  sincere  re- 
pentance and  amendment  of  life  appease  God's 
righteous  displeasure,  and  through  the  merits 
and  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  obtain  his  pardon 
and  forgiveness." 

In  the  midst  of  the  war  General  Washington 
issued  an  order  commanding  a  proper  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath  by  the  army,  and  through- 
out his  illustrious  career  he  gave  the  force  of 
both  his  precept  and  example  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  Christian  faith. 


10  FranJclin^s  Speech, 

In  the  Convention,  assembled  after  the  war  to 
frame  the  Federal  Constitution,  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, then  above  eighty  years  of  age,  offered  a 
motion  for  daily  prayers  in  the  body,  and,  in 
support  of  the  Y)roposition,  said:  ''In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  contest  with  Great  Britain,  when  we 
were  sensible  of  danger,  we  had  daily  prayer  in 
this  room  for  divine  protection.  Our  pra3^ers, 
sir,  were  heard,  and  they  were  graciously  an- 
swered. All  of  us  who  were  engaged  in  the 
struggle  must  have  observed  the  frequent  in- 
stances of  a  superintending  Providence  in  our 
favor.  To  that  kind  Providence  we  owe  this 
happy  opportunity  of  consulting  in  peace  on 
the  means  of  establishing  our  future  national 
felicity.  And  have  we  now  forgotten  this  power- 
ful Friend?  Or  do  we  imagine  that  we  no 
longer  need  his  assistance?  I  have  lived,  sir,  a 
long  time,  and  the  longer  I  live  the  more  con- 
vincing proofs  I  see  of  this  truth  that  God  gov- 
erns in  the  affairs  of  men.  And  if  a  sparrow 
cannot  fall  to  the  ground  without  his  notice,  is 
it  possible  that  an  empire  can  rise  without  his 
aid?  ^ye  have  been  assured,  sir,  in  the  sacred 
writings,  that  'except  the  Lord  build  the  house, 
they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it.'  1  firmly  be- 
lieve this;  and  I  also  believe  that  without  his 


Political  Systems  and  Religious  Faith,     11 

concurring  aid  we  shall  succeed,  in  this  po- 
litical building,  no  better  than  the  builders  of 
Babel."  These  were  remarkable  words,  com- 
ing from  a  man  of  liberalistic  opinions.  They 
point  to  a  prevalence  of  religious  sentiment 
which  reached  and  affected  the  astutest  among 
the  rationalists  even.  3Ien  who  were  descend- 
ants of  the  first  colonists  could  not  rid  themselves 
of  the  convictions  which  had  driven  their  ances- 
tors to  the  New  World,  nor  utterly  renounce  the 
faith  from  which  their  colonial  institutions  had 
sprung.  They  knew,  as  their  forefathers  had  be- 
lieved and  taught,  that  commonwealths  not 
founded  in  religion  rest  precariously  on  shift- 
ing sands. 

It  must  be  so.  The  deepest  and  most  influ- 
ential thing  in  the  life  of- any  people  is  its  re- 
lio'ion,  and  its  customs  and  codes  must  inevitably 
be  colored  and  controlled  by  its  moral  convictions. 
Atheism  breeds  anarchy  as  like  begets  like,  and 
in  all  the  gradations  of  civil  government,  from 
the  lowest  absolutism  to  the  highest  types  of 
free  institutions,  the  character  of  the  political 
system  is  exactly  determined  by  the  faith  that 
underlies  it; 

The  governments  of  all  heathen  lands  are 
despotisms  by  the  very  law  of  their   being. 


12    The  Product  and  Propagcdor  of  Religion. 

Civil  freedom  cannot  live  in  an  atmosphere  of 
pagan  superstition.  Nations  that  forget  God 
do  thereby  forge  chains  for  their  own  hands. 

And  in  the  nominally  Christian  lands  it  will 
be  found  that  the  power  of  political  institutions 
is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  purity  of  the 
Christianity  with  which  they  coexist.  Accord- 
ing to  the  different  degrees  of  religious  intelli- 
gence in  the  nations  of  Christendom  will  be 
found  the  elevation  or  degradation  of  their  po- 
litical systems.  Romanism  has  made  South 
America  and  Southern  Europe  what  they  are, 
and  Protestantism  has  made  England,  Germany, 
Holland,  and  North  America  what  they  are.  As 
Romanism  wanes  in  Italy,  freedom  waxes  stron- 
ger; but  when  a  chill  falls  upon  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  the  United  States,  the  moral  vigor 
of  the  nation  is  impaired. 

From  the  widest  observation  of  the  political 
systems  of  mankind,  in  all  lands  and  in  all  times, 
we  derive,  therefore,  the  generalization  that 
national  life  roots  itself  in  religious  conditions, 
and  that  it  is  feeble  or  powerful  according  to 
the  religion  from  which  it  springs.  Religion 
makes  and  molds  States;  irreligion  mars  them. 
With  governments,  as  with  individuals,  godli- 
ness with  contentment  is  great  gain. 


II. 

A  NATION  FOUNDED  BY  FAITH. 


Religion  gave  birth  to  Anglo-American  society. — M. 
de  Tocqueville. 

They  were  driven  forth  from  their  fatherland,  not  by 
earthly  want  or  by  the  greed  of  gold  or  by  the  Inst  of 
adventure,  but  by  the  fear  of  God  and  the  zeal  for  a 
Godly  worship. — From  Green's  ''Short  History  of  the 
English  People.'" 

It  concerneth  New  England  always  to  remember  that 
she  is  a  religious  plantation  and  not  a  plantation  of 
trade.  The  profession  of  purity  of  doctrine,  worship, 
and  discipline  is  written  upon  her  forehead. — From 
Prijicc's  ''Christian  History.'"' 

A  work  which  may,  by  the  Providence  of  Almighty 
God,  hereafter  tend  to  the  glory  of  His  Divine  Majesty 
in  the  propagating  of  the  Christian  religion  to  such 
people  as  yet  live  in  darkness  and  miserable  ignorance 
of  the  true  knowledge  and  worship  of  God. — One  of  the 
reasons  assigned  for  the  grant  m  the  first  charter  of  the 
Colony  of  Virginia. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  every  charter  granted  to  the 

Southeru  Colonies  the  "propagation  of  the  gospel"  is 

mentioned  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  undertaking  the 

planting  of  them. — FromDaird's  "Religion  in  America.^* 

(U) 


11. 

A  NATION  FOUNDED  BY  FAITH. 

"The  great  migrations  of  mankind,'^  says 
Golclwin  Smith,  "are  the  great  epochs  of  his- 
tory." To  the  same  pm'pose  speaks  Whipple, 
affirming  that  "there  was  never  a  great  migra- 
tion which  did  not  give  rise  to  a  new  form  of 
national  life."  These  observations  are  abun- 
dantly confirmed  by  the  history  of  that  migra- 
tion which  has  resulted  in  the  American  Repub- 
lic. It  gave  rise  to  a  unique  form  of  national 
life,  in  exact  conformity  to  its  own  moral  char- 
acter. 

This  migration,  the  greatest  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  was  not  begun  under  the  obscuring 
mists  of  a  remote  past;  it  began  in  the  open,  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  the  nations  of  modern  times,  and 
it  is  not  clouded  by  the  uncertain  myths  and 
doubtful  traditions  of  a  prehistoric  period.  We 
know  with  absolute  certainty  its  origin  and  the 
course  it  has  run.  We  may  analyze  with  accu- 
racy the  forces  which  gave  rise  to  it  and  mark 
with  precision  the  flow  of  its  current.     And  it 

is  beyond  question  that  religion  was  the  prime 

(15) 


16         "Great  in  Their  Unconsciousness,** 

and  moving  cause  that  gave  rise  to  the  migra- 
tion which,  beginning  with  the  Jamestown  and 
Plymouth  settlements  and  continuing  to  the 
present  time,  has  created  the  republican  nation 
known  as  the  United  States.  The  call  of  Abra- 
ham and  his  departure  from  Chaldea,  and  the 
exodus  from  Eg^^pt,  while  attended  by  more 
miraculous  circumstances,  were  no  more  truly  re  • 
ligious  events  than  the  founding  of  the  American 
colonies.  The  coming  of  the  colonists  was  a 
movement  from  religious  impulses  as  devout 
and  far  more  intelligent  than  the  inspiration 
which  produced  the  Crusades,  and  it  can  scarce- 
ly be  doubted  that  the  religious  results  which 
have  followed  their  coming  will  affect  the  des- 
tiny of  mankind  during  the  centuries  to  come, 
when  the  influence  of  the  Crusaders  will  be  an 
utterly  spent  force. 

The  colonists  did  not  go  to  make  a  republic, 
nor  did  they  come  with  any  preconceived  plans 
of  political  government.  Following  God,  they 
founded  States  almost  unconsciously  and  builded 
more  wisely  than  they  knew.  In  his  noble  ad- 
dress entitled  ''The  Founders  Great  in  Their  Un- 
consciousness" Horace  Bushnell  has  stated  the 
case  of  all  in  describing  that  of  the  New  En- 
gland colonists.    ''Their  end,"  he  says,  "was  re- 


''The  Last  Effort  of  Divine  Providence"     17 

ligion,  simply  and  only  religion.  Out  upon  the 
lone  ocean,  feeling  their  way  cautiously,  as  it 
were,  through  the  unknown  waves,  exploring  in 
their  busy  fancies  and  their  prayers  the  equally 
unknown  future  before  them,  they  as  little  con- 
ceived that  they  had  in  their  ship  the  germ  of  a 
vast  republic  that  in  two  centuries  would  com- 
mand the  respect  and  attract  the  longing  desires 
of  the  nations,  as  that  they  saw  with  their  eyes 
the  lonely  wastes  about  them  whitening  with  the 
sails  and  foaming  under  the  swift  ships  of  that 
republic  already  become  the  first  commercial 
power  of  the  world.  ...  No!  they  crossed 
the  sea  in  God's  name  only,  sent  by  Him,  as 
they  believed,  to  be  the  voice  of  one  crying  in 
the  wilderness,  'Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord, 
make  his  paths  straight.'  But  whither  those 
straightened  paths  will  lead  and  in  what  shape 
the  new  kingdom  of  the  Lord  will  come,  they 
as  little  conceive  as  John  the  Baptist  himself." 
It  is  impossible  to  form  an  adequate  concep- 
tion of  this  far-reaching  movement  to  the  shores 
of  North  America  if  the  providential  purpose  of 
God  or  the  pious  submission  of  the  colonists  to 
the  divine  direction  be  left  out  of  the  account. 
Emerson  is  not  extravagant  when  he  declares: 
"Our  whole  history  appears  like  a  last  effort 
2 


18  Neither  the  Bich  nor  the  Babble. 

of  Divine  Providence  in  behalf  of  the  human 
race."  In  the  colonization  out  of  which  came 
the  Great  Republic,  Providence  selected  the  best 
stocks  of  the  Old  World  for  the  purpose  of  the 
divine  kingdom  in  the  New  World.  By  perse- 
cutions and  trials  of  faith,  a  process  of  election 
was  operated,  whereby  a  chosen  seed  was  secured 
for  a  land  prepared  and  reserved  to  be  the  home 
of  a  type  of  evangelical  religion  such  as  had 
not  been  in  the  earth  for  centuries. 

With  what  precision  that  process  worked  to 
its  end  is  seen  in  the  character  of  the  emigrants 
who  constituted  at  the  first  the  primal  germ  of 
the  nascent  nation,  whose  aftergrow^th  has  been 
conformed  to  the  original  type  which  they  gave 
to  it.  After  a  careful  analysis  of  their  colonial 
charters,  customs,  and  laws,  Dr.  Robert  Baird, 
in  his  monumental  work  entitled  "Religion  in 
America,"  thus  summarizes  their  case: 

"1.  They  were  not  composed  of  the  rich,  the 
voluptuous,the  idle,  the  effeminate,  and  the  prof- 
ligate; neither  were  they,  generally  speaking, 
composed  of  poor,  spiritless,  dependent,  and 
helpless  persons.  They  rather  came  from  that 
middle  class  of  society,  which  is  placed  in  the 
happy  medium  between  sordid  poverty  and  over- 
grown wealth.     They  knew  that  whatever  com- 


Virtuous  and  Religious,  19 

fort  or  enjoyment  they  could  look  for  in  the 
New  World  was  only  to  be  attained  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  their  industry,  frugality,  and 
temperance. 

"2.  They  were  not  an  ignorant  rabble,  such 
as  many  ancient  and  some  modern  States  have 
been  obliged  to  expel  from  their  borders.  Taken 
in  the  mass,  they  were  well-informed — many  of 
them  remarkably  so  for  the  age  in  which  they 
lived  and  which  in  the  case  of  none  of  them  was 
an  age  of. darkness.  .  .  .  With  few  excep- 
tions, they  had  acquired  the  elements  of  a  good 
education.  There  were  few  persons  in  any  of 
the  colonies  that  could  not  read. 

"3.  They  were  a  virtuous  people;  not  a  vicious 
herd,  such  as  used  to  be  sent  out  by  ancient 
States  and  such  as  chiefly  colonized  South  Amer- 
ica and  Mexico — men  of  unbridled  passions  and 
'  slaves  to  the  basest  lusts.  The  morality  of  the 
early  colonists  of  the  United  States  was  unri- 
valed in  any  connnunity  of  equal  extent  and  has 
been  lauded  by  almost  all  who  have  written  about 
them,  as  well  as  by  those  who  have  governed 
them. 

"4.  They  were  religious  men.  They  believed 
and  felt  that  Christianity  is  no  vain  fancy — a 
fact  that  holds  true  even  as  respects  those  of 


20  Bihh-Reading  Protestants. 

them  with  whom  religious  motives  were  not  the 
chief  motive  for  expatriating  themselves.  The 
overwhelming  majority  stood  acquitted  of  the 
slightest  approach  to  infidelity.  Neither  were , 
they  what  are  called  '  philosophers,'  attempting 
to  propagate  certain  new  theories  respecting  hu- 
man society  and  suggesting  new  methods  for 
rendering  it  perfect.  By  far  the  greater  num- 
ber of  them  were  simple  Christians,  who  knew 
of  no  way  by  which  men  can  be  good  or  happy 
but  that  pointed  out  by  God  in  his  Word. 

"5.  AVith  few  exceptions,  the  first  colonists 
were  Protestants;  indeed,  Lord  Baltimore's  was 
the  only  Roman  Catholic  colony,  and  even  in  it 
the  Romanists  formed  but  a  small  minority  long 
before  the  Revolution  of  1775.  The  great  mass 
had  sacrificed  much — some  their  all — for  the 
Protestant  faith.  They  were  Protestants  in  the 
sense  of  men  who  took  the  Bil^le  for  their  guide 
and  who  believed  what  it  taught,  not  what  hu- 
man authority  put  in  its  place.  'What  saith 
the  Lord?'  This  was  what  they  desired  to  know 
first  of  all  and  above  all.  And  it  was  the 
study  of  the  Bible  that  opened  their  eyes  to 
truths  that  bore  upon  every  possible  relation  of 
life  and  upon  every  duty.  And  while  they 
learned  from  the  Bible  what  were  their  duties. 


Asylums  for  the  Persecuted,  21 

so  they  learned  also  what  were  their  rights. 
This  led  them  at  once  to  practice  the  former  and 
to  demand  the  latter. 

"6.  The  great  majority  of  them  had  suffered 
much  oppression  and  persecution,  and  in  that  se- 
vere ])ut  effectual  school  had  learned  lessons  not 
to  be  acquired  in  any  other.  It  had  led  them  to 
question  many  things  to  which  otherwise  their 
thoughts  might  never  have  been  directed,  and  it 
gave  them  irresistible  power  of  argument  in  fa- 
vor of  the  right  of  the  human  mind  to  freedom 
of  thought.  Indeed  it  is  remarkable  how  large 
a  proportion  of  the  early  colonists  were  driven 
from  Europe  by  oppression.  Although  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  were  not  expressly  established 
as  asylums  for  the  wronged,  yet  during  the  com- 
monwealth in  England  they  afforded  a  refuge 
to  the  'Cavalier'  and  the  'Churchman,'  as  they 
did  afterwards  to  the  Huguenot  and  the  German 
Protestant.  Georgia  was  colonized  as  an  asylum 
for  the  imprisoned  and  'persecuted  Protestants;' 
Maryland  as  the  home  of  persecuted  Roman 
Catholics;  and  the  colony  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
was  to  be  a  general  blessing  to  the  'whole  Prot- 
estant world,'  by  offering  a  shelter  to  all  who 
stood  in  need  of  one.  Even  New  York,  though 
founded  by  Dutch   merchants,  with  an   eye  to 


22  Exiled  for  Freedom  and  Faith, 

trade  alonej^  opened  its  arms  to  the  persecuted 
Bohemian  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Italian 
valleys.  So  that,  in  fact,  all  of  these  colonies 
were  originally  peopled  more  or  less,  and  some 
of  them  exclusively,  by  the  victims  of  oppres- 
sion and  persecution;  hence  the  remark  of  one  of 
our  historians  (Bancroft)  is  no  less  just  than 
eloquent,  that  'tyrann}^  and  injustice  peopled 
America  with  men  nurtured  in  suffering  and  ad- 
versity. The  history  of  our  colonization  is  the 
history  of  the  crimes  of  Europe.' 

"  7.  Though  incapable  of  emancipating  them- 
selves from  all  the  prejudices  and  errors  of  past 
ages,  with  respect  to  the  rights  of  conscience, 
they  were  at  least  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  on  these  points,  and  founded  an  empire  in 
which  religious  liberty  is  at  this  day  more  fully 
enjoyed  than  anywhere  else — in  short,  is  in  every 
respect  perfect. 

"8.  Lastly,  of  the  greater  number  of  the 
early  colonists  it  may  be  said  that  they  expatri- 
ated themselves  from  the  Old  World,  not  mere- 
ly to  find  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  forests  of 
the  New,  but  that  they  might  extend  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  by  founding  States  where  the 
Truth  should  not  be  impeded  by  the  hindrances 
which   opposed  its  progress   elsewhere.     This 


Pilgrims  of  Faith.  23 

was  remarkably  the  case  of  the  Puritans  of  New 
England;  but  a  like  spirit  animated  the  pious 
men  who  settled  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
They  looked  to  futurity  and  caught  glimpses  of 
the  glorious  progress  which  the  gospel  was  to 
make  among  their  children  and  children's  chil- 
dren. This  comforted  them  in  sorrow  and  sus- 
tained them  under  trials.  They  lived  by  faith, 
and  their  hope  was  not  disappointed." 

It  is  thus  evident  how  the  Great  Republic,  in 
the  earliest  stages  of  its  history,  was  formed  by 
religion  and  conformed  to  the  Word  of  God. 
As  no  other  of  modern  times,  it  is  a  nation 
founded  by  faith.  As  soon  as  the  first  settlers 
who  came  to  the  Western  world  had  landed,  pub- 
lic worship  was  commenced  and  Churches  were 
organized.  The  place  of  religious  service  was 
from  the  first  center  of  life  in  the  colonies. 
Thither  went  the  entire  population  every  Sab- 
bath, and  in  some  of  the  colonies  citizenship 
was  conditioned  on  Church  membership.  They 
professed,  as  the  controlling  motive  for  their 
coming  into  the  wilderness,  "a  great  hope  and 
inward  zeal  they  had  of  laying  some  good  foun- 
dation (or  at  least  to  make  some  way  thereunto) 
for  propagating  and  advancing  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  in  those  remote  parts  of  the 


24  Moses  the  Model. 

world."  The  corner  stones  of  their  civilization 
were  liberty  and  law,  education  and  religion. 
The  laws  of  Moses  were  the  models  of  their 
codes,  and  the  doing  of  God's  will  was  the  aim 
of  their  endeavor.  They  sought  to  fashion  their 
lives  according  to  the  pattern  of  the  mount,  and, 
working  by  faith,  builded  more  wisely  than  they 
knew  and  attained  to  the  greatness  of 
"  Souls  destined  to  o'erleap  the  vulgar  lot 
And  mold  the  world  unto  the  scheme  of  God." 


III. 

REVIVALS  IN  THE  OLD  WORLD  GAVE 
.      RISE  TO  COLONIES  IN  THE  NEW. 


These  meu  came  out  from  amid  great  awakenings; 
and  after  the  first  plantations  every  arrival  from  the 
old  country  brought  them  news  of  the  revivals  which 
took  place  under  the  Bunyans  and  Baxters  of  England. 
—Henry  C.  Fish,  D.D. 

The  period  of  the  settlement  of  this  country  was 
singularly  identical  with  that  of  the  breaking  up  of  the 
old  religious  life  of  Europe.  Indeed,  since  the  Crusades, 
the  Old  World  had  passed  through  no  such  convulsions 
as  shook  her  whole  religious,  political,  intellectual,  and 
social  framework  at  a  time  when  every  nation  was 
sending  forth  her  sons — albeit,  many  exiles  in  the  num- 
ber— to  establish  themselves  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
this  continent.  It  was  not  from  any  stagnant  nations 
that  immigrants  came  to  our  wooded  shores,  but  from, 
stirred  and  aroused  peoples.  .  .  .  Europe's  best 
blood  was  hot  with  aspirations — we  might  better  call 
them  inspirations — at  the  very  moment  when  this  new 
field  was  opened  for  the  greatest  fulfillment  in  modern 
history. — Bisho]?  Jolin  F.  Hurst. 

When  the  colonies  in  America  were  planted,  both 
from  England  and  the  Continent,  the  people  who  con- 
stituted them  arrived  at  the  moment  of  Europe's  awak- 
ening. They  brought  the  best  aspirations  of  the  Old 
World,  and  determined  to  realize  them  in  the  New. 
The  hour  of  American  colonization  was  the  fittest  one 
in  all  modern  times  for  the  New  World  to  receive  the 
best  which  the  Old  World  had  to  give.— Ibid. 
(26) 


III. 

REVIVALS  IN  THE  OLD  WORLD  GAVE  RISE  TO 
COLONIES  IN  THE  NEW. 

Whence  came  these  founders  to  the  shores 
of  North  America  ? 

With  reference  to  their  former  residence, 
and  speaking  geographically,  the  most  of  them 
came  from  the  British  Isles — in  the  main,  from 
England.  So  predominant  were  these  English 
elements  that  as  late  as  1775  four-fifths  of  the  peo- 
ple were  of  British  origin  and  spoke  the  English 
language.  In  the  earlier  days  the  proportion  of 
English  to  the  whole  population  was  even  larger. 

Having  reference  to  their  ecclesiastical  ante- 
cedents and  their  religious  position,  they  were 
cast  on  these  shores  by  the  expulsive  forces  of 
the  Reformation  and  the  religious  convulsions 
in  Europe  consequent  upon  that  mighty  move- 
ment. 'Most  of  them  were  Protestants,  and 
Protestants  of  the  most  evangelical  type.  In 
this  fact  was  found  the  main  cause  of  their 
coming  to  America. 

The  Reformation  had  set  all  Europe  in  a  fer- 
ment.    Before  it  began  Christianity  had  been 

connected  with  the  State  in  all  European  lands, 

(27) 


28  Persecuting  Popes  and  Princes, 

and  the  papal  throne  was  higher  than  that  of 
any  secular  prince  or  sovereign.  The  Pope  as- 
sumed to  confer  crowns  and  to  exercise  lord- 
ship over  kings.  The  supreme  pontiff  was  a 
sort  of  king  of  kings  as  well  as  the  head  of 
the  Church.  Dissent  from  the  dogmas  of  Ro- 
manism was  a  civil  offense  as  well  as  an  ec- 
clesiastical sin.  Heresy  was  a  crime.  A  dread- 
ful absolutism  extended  its  rule  over  the  human 
mind  and  soul,  enforcing  its  decrees  with  the 
power  of  the  civil  arm.  Against  this  ecclesias- 
tical monarchy  by  which  the  spirits  of  men  were 
enslaved,  and  to  which  crowned  heads  bowed, 
the  Reformation  was  a  revolt.  In  the  very 
nature  of  things,  such  a  movement  was  resisted 
by  the  hand  of  persecution.  The  Pope  and  his 
subservient  allies  were  bound  to  join  hands 
against  it.  Princes  who  derived  influence  from 
papal  recognition  took  up  arms  to  suppress  it. 
The  superstitious  multitudes,  who  knew  nothing 
of  the  faith  that  justifies,  were  aroused  to  fury 
against  it  by  the  appeals  of  priests  whose  craft 
and  gains  were  endangered  by  it.  The  vicious 
opposed  it  because  of  its  purity.  Its  adherents 
at  first  were  found  only  among  that  class  which 
is  always  in  the  minority — the  men  who  are 
too  intelligent  to  believe  fables,  too  pure  to  in- 


The  Beligioiis  Element  Dominant.  29 

dalge  vice,  and  too  loyal  to  God  to  fear  earthly 
usurpers  of  divine  authority. 

Such  men  can  no  more  fail  in  a  work  of  faith 
than  they  can  escape  the  persecution  of  the  faith- 
less. Therefore,  the  movement  speedily  attained 
to  the  magnitude  of  a  moral  revolution.  Into  it 
at  length  were  swept  the  masses  and  the  classes. 
Some  princes,  even,  who  had  long  been  restive  un- 
der papal  pretensions,  availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  to  rid  themselves  of  a  galling  yoke. 
Political  elements  thus  entered  into  what,  in  the 
beginning,  was  a  revival  of  spiritual  religion,  and 
that  alone.  But  the  religious  element  was  al- 
ways dominant,  and  the  heavenly  fire  within  it 
increased  the  heat  of  the  earthly  flames  which 
burned  every  where.  It  was  an  era  of  fierce  con- 
troversies and  not  of  tepid  religious  convictions. 
And  it  inaugurated  an  epoch  during  which 
evangelical  faith  steadily  advanced  in  clearness 
of  vision,  and  purity  of  life  through  a  succession 
of  struggles  and  triumphs  which  may  be  justly 
called  revivals.  This  was  especially  true  in 
England  and  Scotland,  where  Eidley  and  Lati- 
mer and  Cranmer  and  Knox  wrought  righteous- 
ness and  subdued  kingdoms,  and  where  the  Pu- 
ritans and  the  Covenanters  subsequently  con- 
tended earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to 


30  From  Sires  to  Sons, 

the  saints.  From  these  revival  centers,  and  out 
of  these  fights  of  faith,  driven  by  persecution 
and  drawn  by  the  hope  of  religious  freedom, 
came  the  first  colonists  to  America. 

Grandsires  of  the  men  who  composed  the 
Jamestown  settlement  were  contemporaries  of 
the  Protestant  martyrs  of  the  British  Isles.  The 
hearts  of  these  settlers  in  the  New  World  had 
been  stirred  by  stories  of  the  stormy  times 
and  the  heroic  deeds  of  their  ancestors.  Perhaps 
from  eyewitnesses  of  those  martyrdoms  some 
of  the  first  colonists  had  heard  how,  "without 
Bocardo  Gate,"  opposite  Baliol  College,  on  a 
day  in  October,  1555,  the  dauntless  and  saintly 
Latimer  had  died,  exclaiming  to  his  companion 
in  suffering  and  glory:  "Be  of  good  comfort, 
Master  Ridley,  and  play  the  man;  we  shall  this 
day  light  such  a  candle,  by  God's  grace,  in 
England,  as,  I  trust,  shall  never  be  put  out." 
From  the  lips  of  saintly  sires  mayhap  others 
had  heard  the  story  of  Rowland  Taylor,  the 
good  Vicar  of  Hadleigh,  who  went  to  his  death, 
by  burning,  amid  the  lamentations  of  his  parish- 
ioners, who  burst  out  crying:  "Ah,  good  Lord, 
there  goeth  our  shepherd  from  us!  God  save 
thee,  good  Dr.  Taylor;  God  strengthen  thee 
and  help  thee;  the  Holy  Ghost  comfort  thee!" 


"The  People  of  a  Boohr  31 

The  colonists  themselves  had  suffered  persecu- 
tions Avhich,  though  less  fierce,  were  not  less  per- 
sistent than  the  trials  endured  by  their  holy  sires. 
They  had  been  hindered  by  bitter  opposition 
and  helped  by  great  revivals,  as  had  their  fore- 
fathers been  hindered  and  helped.     Particularly 
they  had  been  affected  by  a  revival,  the  iuilu- 
ence  of  which  is  felt  throughout  the  English- 
speaking  world  to  the  present  moment.  They  had 
been  inspired  and  enlightened  by  the  great  revival 
which  the  extraordinary  reading  of  the  Bible  had 
produced  in  England  during  the  last  quarter  of  the 
sixteenth  century.     Of  that  period,  Green,  in  his 
"Short  History  of  the  English  People,''  says: 
"Ko  greater  moral  change  ever  passed  over  a 
nation  than   passed  over   England  during  the 
years  which  parted  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  from 
the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament.     England 
became  the  people  of  a  book,  and  that  book  was 
the  Bible.     It  was  yet  the  one  English  book 
which  was  familiar  to  every  Englishman;  it  was 
read  at  churches  and  read  at  home,  and  every- 
where its  words,  as  they  fell  on  ears  which  cus- 
tom had  not  deadened,  kindled  a  startling  en- 
thusiasm.     .      .      .      The   whole   moral   effect 
which  is  produced  nowadays  by  the  religious 
newspaper,  the  tract,  the  essay,  the  lecture,  the  ' 


32  Meu  of  Like  Mold. 

missionary  report,  the  sermon,  was  then  pro- 
duced by  the  Bible  alone;  and  its  effect  in  this 
way,  hoAvever  dispassionately  Ave  may  examine 
it,  was  simply  amazing.  One  dominant  influ- 
ence told  on  human  action;  and  all  the  activi- 
ties that  had  been  called  into  life  by  the  age  that 
was  passing  away  were  seized,  concentrated,  and 
steadied  to  a  definite  aim  by  the  spirit  of  re- 
ligion. The  whole  temper  of  the  nation  felt 
the  change.  A  new  conception  of  life  and  of 
man  superseded  the  old.  A  new  moral  and  re- 
ligious impulse  spread  through  every  class." 

With  such  memories,  and  from  amid  such 
events  and  influences,  came  the  first  colonists  to 
Jamestown  in  1607,  and  to  Plymouth  in  1620. 
In  the  years  that  followed  they  drew  after 
them  men  of  like  mind  and  mold.  From  the 
moment  of  their  establisjhment  in  the  New 
World  the  eyes  of  the  pious  and  persecuted 
Protestants  in  every  part  of  Northern  Europe, 
and  especially  the  eyes  of  their  kindred  fellow- 
Christians  in  England,  were  fixed  upon. them. 
Drawn  by  the  bonds  of  a  common  faith  and 
natural  affection,  multitudes  of  congenial  spirits 
soon  hastened  to  join  them  in  their  Western 
home.  Besides  their  friends  and  kinsmen  from 
Enofland,  there  flocked  after  them  Huo^uenots 


The  Reformation  a  Revival,  33 

from  France,  pious  Swedes,  saintly  Swiss,  and 
devout  Dutch,  together  with  sturdy  Scotch 
and  ardent  spirits  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 
The  colonies  which  were  the  offspring  of 
evangelical  religion  were  thereby  strengthened 
and  replenished  with  a  like  precious  faith.        — n| 

It  thus  appears  that  the  founding  of  the 
colonies  at  the  first,  and  their  subsequent 
growth  during  the  first  century  of  their  exist- 
ence, were  the  results  of  great  revivals  of  re- 
ligion. As  has  been  intimated,  the  Reforma- 
tion itself  was,  strictly  speaking,  a  revival, 
and  gave  rise  to  a  series  of  movements  from 
which  have  been  developed  the  evangelical  .type 
of  life  and  the  evangelistic  methods  of  propa- 
gating Christianity  which  are  to-day  the  hope 
of  the  world.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  consider 
that  mighty  revolution  to  have  been  only  a 
change  of  speculative  tenets,  or  a  secular  strug- 
gle, under  the  pretense  of  religion,  for  freedom 
of  thought  only.  True,  purification  of  doctrine 
and  liberty  of  conscience  were  involved,  but 
only  because  of  the  deep  spiritual  struggle  which 
underlay  them.  It  was  the  personal  and  intense 
struggle  of  souls,  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness,  which,  at  the  outset,  raised  the 

great  issues  between  the  Romanists  and  the  Re- 
3 


34  The  Bevival  in  Scotland, 

formers.  Not  since  the  days  of  the  apostles 
were  so  many  souls  anxiously  inquiring,  "  What 
must  we  do  to  be  saved '^ "  and  never  before  were 
there  so  many  genuine  conversions.  The  cor- 
respondence of  the  Reformers,  especially  that 
of  Luther  and  Calvin,  shows  that  much  of  their 
time  was  spent  giving  counsel  to  inquiring  souls 
and  leading  such  souls  to  Christ.  The  subjects 
uppermost  in  their  discussions  were  just  those 
themes  which  to  this  day  are  considered  of  par- 
amount importance  in  a  revival  season. 

The  Reformation  in  Scotland  bore  the  same 
marks.  Kirkton  says  of  it:  ''The  whole  nation 
was  converted  by  lump.  Lo!  here  a  nation 
born  in  one  day;  yea,  molded  into  one  congre- 
gation, and  sealed  as  a  fountain  with  a  solemn 
oath  and  covenant."  Fleming,  in  his  "Fulfill- 
ing of  Scripture,"  says:  "It  is  astonishing,  and 
should  be  matter  of  wonder  and  praise  for  after 
ages,  to  consider  that  solemn  time  of  the  Refor- 
mation (in  Scotland)  when  the  Lord  began  to 
visit  his  Church.  What  a  swift  course  the 
spreading  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  had;  and 
how  professors  of  the  truth  thronged  in  amidst 
the  greatest  threatenings  of  those  on  whose  side 
authority  and  power  then  was!"  In  Holland, 
France,  and  Switzerland  a  similar  spirit  pre- 


Revival  Centers  and  Preachers,  35 

vailed  among  the  reformers.  We  may  be  sm*e 
that  it  was  not  for  mere  speculative  dogmas,  or 
for  motives  of  faction,  that  men  endured  torture 
and  gave  themselves  to  death.  Nothing  less 
than  the  personal  experience  of  that  'Moving- 
kindness  of  God"  which  "is  better  than  life" 
could  have  nerved  them  for  the  mighty  struggles 
through  which  they  passed  on  behalf  of  the 
freedom  of  the  faith.  If  dogma  was  dear  to 
them,  it  was  because  it  was  the  symbol  of  loyalty 
to  the  Lord  of  life  and  salvation. 

In  the  British  Isles,  whence  most  of  the  early 
colonists  came,  the  contest  between  evangelical 
Christianity  and  its  enemies  was  longest  and 
fiercest.  There,  also,  were  the  triumphs  of  a 
pure  faith  most  signal  and  fruitful.  In  the  cen- 
tury in  which  the  first  colonies  were  founded 
there  were  many  revival  centers  from  which  the 
ranks  of  the  colonists  were  constantly  recruited. 
Such  men  as  Richard  Baxter,  John  Owen,  John 
Bunyan,  John  Howe,  and  John  Flavei  called  sin- 
ners to  repentance  and  edified  the  Churches  of 
England  in  ministries  of  great  power.  Their 
writings,  which  remain,  reveal  how  evangelical 
were  their  teachings,  how  fervent  was  their  spirit, 
and  how  abundant  were  their  labors.  The  va- 
rious acts  of  Parliament  leveled  aojainst  such 


36  Fused  in  Revival  Fires 

pious  endeavors  show  how  bitterly  they  were  op- 
posed, and  those  statutes  reveal  also  how  great 
was  the  influence  of  those  flaming  evangelists 
and  their  followers.  The  Act  of  Uniformity, 
passed  in  1662  and  strenuously  enforced  for 
twenty-five  years,  the  Conventicle  Act,  passed 
in  166tl:,  and  the  Five  Mile  Act,  passed  in  1665, 
all  show  how  persistent  and  how  ineffectual  was 
the  persecution  of  those  mighty  men  who  stood 
for  a  pure  faith  in  a  corrupt  age.  This  proscrip- 
tive  legislation  did  also  send  to  the  American 
colonies  some  of  the  choicest  spirits  that  the 
world  ever  saw.  They  had  been  fused  and  fash- 
ioned in  revival  fii-es,  and  they  came  to  the  New 
World  in  the  spirit  of  the  evangelism  by  which 
they  had  been  encompassed  from  birth,  and  for 
which  they  and  their  fathers  had  suffered  so  much. 
Of  how  nearly  the  revivals  of  this  period  of 
British  history  resemble  the  revivals  of  our  day 
we  may  judge  by  reading  the  accounts  of  a  re- 
vival which  prevailed  in  the  north  of  Ireland  in 
1625.  It  was  from  the  labors  of  a  company  of 
faithful  men  who  went  over  from  Scotland — 
Brice,  Glendenning,  Ridge,  Blair,  and  others. 
They  began  in  Ulster,  and  endeavored  with  apos- 
tolic zeal  to  evangelize  the  whole  island.  The 
work  continued  for  a  considerable  time,  and  of 


Harvests  and  Harvesters  3? 

it  Stewart  says:  "The  ministers  were  indefati- 
gable in  improving  the  favorable  opportunity 
thus  offered  for  extending  the  knowledge  and  in- 
fluence of  the  gospel.  The  people,  awakened 
and  inquiring,  many  of  them  both  desponding 
and  alarmed,  both  desired  and  needed  guidance 
and  instruction.  The  judicious  exhibition  of 
evangelical  doctrine^  and  promises  by  these 
faithful  men  was  in  due  time  productive  of  those 
happy  and  tranquilizing  effects  which  were  early 
predicted  as  the  characteristic  of  gospel  times. 
Adopting  the  beautiful  imagery  of  the  prophets, 
the  broken-hearted  were  bound  up  and  comfort- 
ed, the  spirit  of  bondage  and  of  fear  gave  way 
to  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  of  love,  the  oil  of  joy 
was  poured  forth  instead  of  mourning,  and  the 
spirit  of  heaviness  exchanged  for  the  garments 
of  praise  and  thankfulness." 

In  the  same  year  there  was  in  Scotland  a  great 
work  of  grace  which,  from  the  place  of  its  be- 
ginning— Stewarton — was  named  by  the  godless 
as  the  "Stewarton  Sickness."  Of  this  move- 
ment Fleming  says:  "Truly  this  great  spring- 
tide, as  I  may  call  it,  of  the  gospel  was  not  of  a 
short  time,  but  of  some  years'  continuance;  yea, 
.thus,  like  a  spreading  moor-burn,  the  power  of 
godliness  did  advance  from  one  place  to  another, 


38  Stewarton  and  Kidderminster 

which  put  a  marvelous  luster  on  those  parts  of 
the  country,  the  savor  whereof  brought  many 
from  other  parts  of  the  land  to  see  its  truth." 

Of  the  same  sort  was  Baxter's  work  at  Kidder- 
minster. He  himself  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  it  in 
these  words:  "The  congregation  was  usually 
full,  so  that  we  were  led  to  build  five  galleries 
after  my  coming  hither,  the  church  itself  being 
very  capacious — the  most  commodious  and  con- 
venient that  ever  I  was  in.  Our  private  meet- 
ings were  also  full.  On  the  Lord's  day  there 
was  no  disorder  to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  but  you 
might  hear  a  hundred  families  singing  psalms 
and  repeating  sermons  as  you  passed  through 
the  streets."  Of  the  extent  of  his  influence  we 
may  draw  some  inference  from  the  fact  that  in  a 
time  when  the  population  of  England  was  not 
nearly  so  dense  as  now,  nor  reading  nearly  so 
general,  his  great  work  entitled  "A  Call  to  the 
Unconverted"  attained  a  circulation  of  twenty 
thousand  copies  within  the  first  twelvemonth 
after  its  publication.  What  must  have  been  the 
popular  interest  in  the  subject  to  secure  so  great 
and  so  speedy  a  circulation  for  a  work  of  that 
kind!  How  powerfully  must  his  call  have  af- 
fected the  nation,  and  especially  that  class  of  the 
people  who  were  migrating  to  America! 


Bevivals  at  Northampton  39 

These  facts  all  go  to  show  how  true  is  the 
statement  that  the  first  colonists,  who  gave  to 
the  rising  commonwealths  in  the  New  World 
their  initial  type  of  life,  which  type  has  domi- 
nated and  assimilated  to  itself  all  subsequent  im- 
migration, "came  out  of  great  awakenings." 

The  colonists  were  not  unaccustomed  to  reviv- 
als when  they  came,  nor  were  they  startled  when 
similar  works  of  grace  appeared  among  them  in 
the  New  World.  The  "Venerable  Stoddard," 
grandfather  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  pas- 
tor of  the  Church  at  Northampton  (where  the 
great  awakening  of  1740  began)  from  1672  to 
1729,  had,  daring  the  nearly  sixty  years  of  his 
ministry,  five  sweeping  revivals  in  his  parish. 
In  his  "Narrative  of  the  Surprising  Work  of 
God,"  Jonathan  Edwards  thus  alludes  to  these 
seasons  of  grace  in  the  ministry  of  his  grand- 
father: "As  he  was  eminent  and  renowned  for 
his  gifts  and  graces,  so  he  was  blessed  from  the 
beginning  with  extraordinary  success  in  his  min- 
istry in  the  conversion  of  many  souls.  He  had 
five  harvests,  as  he  called  them:  the  first  was 
about  fifty-seven  years  ago,  the  second  about 
fifty-three  years,  the  third  about  forty,  the 
fourth  about  twenty-four,  and  the  fifth  and  last 
about  eighteen  years  ago.     Some  of  these  times 


40  Apostolic  Succession  of  Revivals 

were  much  more  remarkable  than  others,  and  the 
ingathering  of  souls  more  plentiful.  Those  that 
were  about  fifty-three,  forty,  and  twenty-four 
years  ago  were  much  gi-eater  than  either  the  first 
or  the  last;  but  in  each  of  them,  L  have  heard 
my  grandfather  say,  the  greater  part  of  the 
young  people  in  the  town  seemed  to  be  mainly 
concerned  for  their  eternal  salvation."  Reckon- 
ing, therefore,  from  the  date  of  the  "Narrative" 
by  Edwards,  we  find  there  were  harvest  times 
at  Northampton  in  1679,  1683,  1696,  1712,  and 
1718. 

These  revivals  were  not  novelties  to  the  colo- 
nists nor  breaks  in  their  religious  history,  but 
they  were  fruits  of  the  religious  awakenings  in 
the  Old  World  and  forerunners  of  the  great 
awakening  which  presently  came  to  the  New. 
They  sprang  up  amid  tender  memories  and  holy 
ancestral  traditions,  and  they  renewed  in  the 
hearts  of  the  colonists  the  fervent  experiences 
of  their  forefathers.  They  are  links  in  that 
apostolical  succession  of  revivals  which  stretch- 
es from  the  Reformation  to  the  great  awaken- 
ings of  the  eighteenth  century. 


lY. 

THE  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

(41) 


The  •work  is  very  glorious  if  vre  consider  the  extent 
of  it,  being  in  tliis  respect  vastl}^  ]:>eyond  an}'  former 
outpouring  of  tlie  Spirit  that  ever  was  knoTv^n  in  New 
England.  There  has  formerly  sometimes  been  a  re- 
markable awakening  and  success  of  the  means  of  grace 
in  some  particular  congregation,  and  this  used  to  be 
much  taken  notice  of  and  acknowledged  to  be  glorious, 
though  the  towns  and  congregations  round  about  con- 
tinued dead;  but  now  God  lias  l)rought  to  pass  a  new 
thing;  he  has  wrought  a  great  work  of  this  nature,  that 
has  extended  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other,  be- 
sides Avhat  has  been  wrought  in  other  British  Colonies 
in  America. — JonatlLcin  Edwards. 

In  the  period  before  the  awakening,  the  sole  organ 
of  follov.'ship  reaching  through  the  whole  chain  of  the 
British  Colonies  was  the  correspondence  of  the  Quaker 
meetings  and  missionaries.  In  the  glow  of  the  revival 
the  continent  awoke  to  the  consciousness  of  a  common 
spiritual  life.  Ranging  the  continent  literally,  from 
Georgia  to  Maine,  with  all  his  weaknesses  and  indiscre- 
tions, and  witli  his  incomparable  eloquence,  welcomed 
by  ever}''  sect,  yet  refusing  an  exclusive  allegiance  to 
any,  Whitefield  exercised  a  true  apostolate,  bearing 
daily  the  care  of  all  the  Churches,  and  becoming  a  mes- 
senger of  mutual  fellowship,  not  only  between  the  ends 
of  the  continent,  but  between  the  Christians  of  two 
hemispheres.  Remote  Churches  exchanged  offices  of 
service.  Tennent  came  from  New  Jersey  to  labor  in 
New  England;  Dickinson  and  Burr  and  Edwards  were 
the  gift  of  the  Northern  Colonies  to  the  college  at 
Princeton.  The  quickened  sense  of  a  common  religious 
life  and  duty  and  destiny  Avas  no  small  part  of  the 
preparation  for  the  birth  of  the  future  n^iiion.— Leon- 
ard Woolsey  Bacon,  in  ''A  History  of  American  Chris- 
tianity.'' 

(42)  • 


IV. 

THE  GREAT  AWAKEN^ING. 

Notwithstanding  the  revivals  in  the  Old 
World  out  of  which  the  first  colonists  had  come 
to  the  New,  notwithstanding  the  heroic  and  pious 
purposes  which  had  inspired  their  coming,  and 
notwithstanding  the  seasons  of  grace  and  the  ex- 
ercise of  religion  which  they  had  enjoyed  after 
their  arrival,  in  the  second  and  third  generations 
following  them  w^as  seen  the  most  grievous 
moral  and  religious  deterioration.  Their  fa- 
thers had  fled  to  the  wilderness  to  secure  freedom 
of  faith,  but  their  descendants  had  turned  liberty 
into  license. 

Migrations  are  periods  of  great  peril  to  spirit- 
ual life.  The  transplanting  of  the  best  human 
stocks  is  attended  with  the  greatest  moral  dan- 
gers. An  emigrant  people  in  a  new  and  strange 
land  are  cut  off  from  those  vitalizing  forces  of 
life  which  issue  from  a  well-established  social 
system  and  which  can  be  supplied  from  no  other 
source.  Restraints  that  are  wholesome  are  thrown 
off  and  associations  are  contracted  upon  other 
than  moral  bases.  Dire  necessity  is  invoked  to 
excuse  misconduct,  and  friendships  are  estab- 

(43) 


44:  Peculiar  t)angers  and  Difficulties 

lished  in  bonds  of  desperate  need  rather  than  in 
spiritual  affinity.  ''All  the  old  roots  of  local 
love  and  historic  feeling,  the  joints  and  bands 
that  minister  nourishment,  are  left  behind,  and' 
nothing  remains  to  organize  a  living  growth  but 
the  two  unimportant  incidents,  proximity  and  a 
common  interest." 
1  Besides  these  perils,  which  inhere  in  all  mi- 
/  grations,  the  American  colonists  were  beset  by 
\  difficulties  peculiarly  their  own  and  arising  from 
the  unprecedented  conditions  with  which  they 
were  surrounded.  No  colonists  had  ever  before 
removed  so  far  from  their  original  seats  or  been 
so  effectually  separated  from  the  lands  that  sent 
them  forth.  They  had  no  central  government 
to  bind  them  together  in  anything  akin  to  na- 
tional unity,  but,  on  the  contrary,  were  divided 
into  separate  and  jealous  colonies  of  divers  ec- 
clesiastical orders  until  their  religious  convic- 
tions became,  by  reason  of  excessive  intenseness, 
a  peril  to  their  souls.  They  reached  a  point  at 
length  where  they  would  hate  men  for  a  dogma 
and  sin  for  a  sect.  The  French  and  Indian  wars 
had  fed  all  the  fiercest  passions  of  human  nature 
within  them  and  relaxed  all  moral  convictions 
and  restraints.  Manners  became  coarse  and 
mental  cultivation  w^as  sadly  neglected.    A  wild 


Eagles  Turning  to  Oivls  45 

and  adventurous  spirit  possessed  the  people  as 
morals  declined  and  religion  decayed.  Secret 
apostasies  and  flagrant  sins  corrupted  and  enfee- 
bled the  Churches.  Intemperance,prof  ane  swear- 
ing, licentiousness,  and  every  form  of  vice  pre- 
vailed as  never  before  in  their  history.  The 
first  race  was  gone  and  its  successors  of  the  sec- 
ond and  third  generation  were  of  a  distinctly 
lower  type.  "We  feel,  in  short,  that  we  have 
descended  to  an  inferior  race.  It  is  somewhat 
as  if  a  nest  of  eagles  had  been  filled  with  a  brood 
of  owls." 

Such  were  the  moral  conditions  on  the  eve 
of  the  great  awakening.  In  seeking  to 
make  religious  commonwealths,  citizenship  had 
been  by  the  founders  conditioned  on  Church 
membership,  and,  as  is  always  and  inevitably 
the  result  in  such  methods,  citizenship  had  not 
been  elevated  to  a  nobler  level,  but  Church  mem- 
bership had  been  degraded  to  the  low  plane  of 
political  expedient.  Even  the  "Venerable  Stod- 
dard" had  been  corrupted  in  doctrine  by 
the  pressure  of  such  a  situation,  and  had  pub- 
lished a  sermon  in  which  he  maintained  that 
"  sanctification  is  not  a  necessary  qualification 
to  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  and  that 
"the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  converting  ordinance." 


46  A^i  Evil  Leaven 

Such  teaching  accorded  well  with  the  popular 
desire  to  enjoy  the  credit  and  secure  the  advan- 
tages of  Church  membership  without  the  expe- 
rience of  personal  piety  or  the  inconveniences 
imposed  by  a  life  of  self-denial.  The  godless 
spirit  of  the  times,  coupled  with  his  command- 
ing influence,  spread  the  evil  leaven  far  and  wide, 
and  a  subtle  sacramentarianism,  mingled  with 
a  pervasive  power,  derived  from  the  political 
motives  in  which  it  was  originated,  filled  the 
Churches  with  an  unconverted  membership  and 
threatened  the  very  life  of  religion  wherever  it 
came.  Men  felt  no  need  of  any  justification 
or  new  birth  beyond  what  submission  to  the 
ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
offered,  and  the  vital  experience  of  godliness 
was  lost  in  a  conventional  observance  of  reli- 
gious ceremonials.  The  sense  of  sin  was  dead- 
ened and  the  need  of  salvation  was  scarcely  felt. 
Dr.  Increase  Mather,  in  a  book  entitled  "Tne 
Glory  Departing  from  New  England,"  bewailed 
the  situation  on  this  wise:  ""We  are  the  pos- 
terity of  the  good  old  Puritan  Nonconformists 
in  England,  who  were  a  strict  and  holy  people. 
Such  were  our  fathers  who  followed  the  Lord 
into  the  wilderness.  O,  New  England,  New 
England,  look  to  it  that  the  glory  be  not  re- 


Dawning  of  the  Day,  47 

moved  from  thee,  for  it  begins  to  go!  O,  de- 
generate New  England,  what  art  thou  come  to 
at  this  day!  How  are  those  sins  become  so 
common  in  thee  that  were  not  so  much  as  heard 
of  in  this  land!"  Of  the  state  of  religion  in 
New  Jersey,  Jonathan  Dickinson  reports:  "Re- 
ligion was  in  a  very  low  state,  professors  gener- 
ally dead  and  lifeless,  and  the  body  of  our  peo- 
ple careless,  carnal,  and  secure."  The  case  in 
Pennsylvania  Rev.  Samuel  Blair  thus  sadly  states: 
"Religion  lay,  as  it  were,  dying,  and  ready  to 
expire  its  last  breath  of  life  in  this  part  of  the 
visible  Church."  The  same  conditions  obtained 
everywhere  throughout  all  the  colonies,  from 
New  England  to  the  far  South. 

But,  despite  the  general  deadness  in  the 
Churches,  here  and  there  were  not  a  few  devout 
men  whose  hearts  God  had  touched.  They  be- 
gan about  the  year  1730  to  revive  the  all  but 
forgotten  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  and 
to  call  men  to  repentance.  Most  prominent 
among  these  may  be  mentioned  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, the  Tennents  (Gilbert  and  William), 
Bellamy,  Griswold,  Wheelock,  Robinson,  and 
Blair.  These  were  the  American  leaders  of  the 
great  awakening,  and  they  were  mightily 
assisted  in  1740  by  that  most  remarkable  man, 


48  Edwards  at  Northampton. 

George  Whitefield,  who  came  over  from  En- 
gland in  1739. 

The  movement  began  at  Northampton,  where 
Edwards,  after  being  the  associate  pastor  with 
his  grandfather  for  two  years,  became  his  suc- 
cessor on  his  death.  It  began  in  the  latter  part 
of  December,  lT3i.  "Then  it  was,"  says  Ed- 
wards, "that  the  Spirit  of  God  began  extraordi- 
narily to  set  in,  and  wonderfully  to  w^ork  among 
us;  and  there  were  very  suddenly,  one  after  an- 
other, five  or  six  persons  who  were,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, savingly  converted,  and  some  of  them 
wrought  upon  in  a  very  remarkable  manner. 
Particularly,  I  was  surprised  with  the  relation 
of  a  young  woman  who  had  been  one  of  the 
greatest  company-keepers  in  the  whole  town. 
When  she  came  to  me  I  had  never  heard  that 
she  was  in  any  wise  serious,  but  by  the  con- 
versation I  then  had  with  her  it  appeared  to 
me  that  what  she  gave  an  account  of  was  a 
glorious  work  of  God's  infinite  power  and  sov- 
ereign grace,  and  that  God  had  given  her  a 
new  heart,  truly  broken  and  sanctified.  I  could 
not  then  doubt  of  it,  and  have  seen  much,  in 
my  acquaintance  with  her  since,  to  confirm 
it.  The  news  of  it  seemed  to  be  almost  like 
a  flash  of  lightning  upon  the  hearts  of  the 


Noise  Among  the  Dry  Bones,  49 

young  people  all  over  the  town,  and  upon  many 
others.  Those  persons  among  us  who  used  to 
be  farthest  from  seriousness,  and  that  1  most 
feared  would  make  an  ill  improvement  of  it, 
seemed  greatly  to  be  awakened  by  it;  many 
went  to  talk  with  her  concerning  what  she  had 
met  with,  and  what  appeared  in  her  seemed  to 
be  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  w^ho  did  so.  Pres- 
ently, upon  this,  a  great  and  earnest  concern 
about  the  great  things  of  religion  and  the 
eternal  world  became  universal  in  all  parts  of 
the  town,  and  among  persons  of  all  degrees  and 
ages;  the  noise  among  the  dry  bones  waxed 
louder  and  louder;  all  other  talk  but  about 
spiritual  and  eternal  things  was  soon  thrown  by; 
all  the  conversation  in  all  companies,  and  upon 
all  occasions,  was  upon  these  things  only,  unless 
so  much  as  was  necessary  for  people  carrying  on 
their  ordinary  secular  business.  Other  dis- 
course than  of  the  things  of  religion  would 
scarcely  be  tolerated  in  any  company.  .  .  . 
There  was  scarcely  a  single  person  in  the  town, 
either  old  or  young,  that  was  left  unconcerned 
about  the  great  things  of  the  eternal  world. 
.  .  .  And  the  work  of  conversion  was  car- 
ried on  in  the  most  astonishing  manner,  and  in- 
creased more  and  more;  souls  did,  as  it  were, 
4 


60  Full  of  Love  and  Joy, 

come  by  flocks  to  Jesus  Christ.  From  day 
to  day,  for  many  months  together,  might  be 
seen  evident  instances  of  sinners  brought  out  of 
drjL'kness  into  marvelous  light,  and  delivered  out 
of  a  horrible  pit  and  from  the  miry  clay,  and 
set  upon  a  rock  with  a  new  song  of  praise  to 
God  in  their  mouths.  This  work  of  God  as  it 
was  carried  on,  and  the  number  of  true  saints 
multiplied,  soon  made  a  glorious  alteration  in 
the  town,  so  that  in  the  spring  and  summer  fol- 
lowing, anno  1735,  the  town  seemed  to  be  full 
of  the  presence  of  God — it  never  was  so  full  of 
love,  nor  so  full  of  joy,  and  yet  so  full  of  dis- 
tress as  it  was  then.  There  were  remarkable 
tokens  of  God's  presence  in  almost  every  house. 
It  was  a  time  of  joy  in  families  on  account  of 
salvation  being  brought  to  them — parents  rejoi- 
cing over  their  children  as  newborn,  and  hus- 
bands over  their  wives,  and  wives  over  their 
husbands.  The  doings  of  God  were  then  seen 
in  his  sanctuary,  God's  day  was  a  delight  and 
his  tabernacles  were  amiable." 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  beginning  of  this 
great  work,  given  by  a  man  the  farthest  pos- 
sible removed  from  fanaticism— a  man  of  phi- 
losophic mind,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and 
of  whom  Robert  Hall  said;   "1  consider  him 


A  Contagious  Blessing,  51 

the  greatest  of  the  sons  of  men."  Many  per- 
sons from  the  neighboring  towns  came  to  see 
the  wonderful  work.  "Many,"  to  use  the 
words  of  Edwards,  "that  came  to  town  on  one 
occasion  and  another  had  their  consciences 
smitten  and  awakened,  and  went  home  with 
wounded  hearts  and  with  impressions  that  never 
wore  off  until  they  had  hopefully  a  saving  is- 
sue; and  those  that  before  had  serious  thoughts 
had  their  aw^akenings  and  convictions  greatly  in- 
creased." Thus  the  work  spread,  reaching  rap- 
idly South  Hadley,  Suffield,  Sunderland,  Deer- 
field,  Hatfield,  Northfield,  and  many  other  points 
throughout  New  England. 

At  a  little  later  time  there  was,  quite  inde- 
pendently of  the  work  at  Northampton,  an 
awakening  in  New  Jersey,  principally  in  con- 
nection with  the  labors  of  William  and  Gilbert 
Tennent. 

While  it  is  true  that  in  the  latter  part  of  May, 
1735,  the  work  at  Northampton  began  to  decline, 
and  continued  to  do  so,  with  various  fluctuations, 
until  the  coming  of  Whitefield  in  1710,  it  did 
not  utterly  perish.  Many  of  its  best  effects  re- 
mained. In  the  towns  and  Churches  to  which  it 
had  been  communicated  there  was  a  marked  im- 
provement in  spirituality  and  a  notable  uplift  in 


52  Tlie  Leaven  of  a  New  Life, 

morals.  More  clear  and  correct  views  of  the  re- 
ligious life  prevailed.  Men  began  to  realize  the 
wide  difference  between  a  real  and  a  nominal 
Christian,  and  of  the  great  change  by  which  that 
difference  is  brought  to  pass.  Revivals  like  that 
at  Northampton  came  again,  as  in  former  times, 
to  be  regarded  as  very  desirable;  so  that  they 
were  prayed  for  and  expected.  And  prayer 
was  answered  in  that  after  the  decline  of  the 
work  at  Northampton  there  were  many  awaken- 
ings at  various  points  in  the  colonies  until,  by 
1739,  such  events  had  become  numerous  and 
conspicuous.  In  August,  1739,  there  was  a  re- 
markable revival  at  Newark,  N.  J.,  under  the 
ministry  of  Jonathan  Dickinson,  which,  begin- 
ning mainly  among  the  young  people,  increased 
in  power  and  extent  until,  by  November  fol- 
lowing, the  whole  town  was  brought  under  its 
influence.  At  Harvard,  Mass.,  under  the  min- 
istry of  Rev.  John  Seccomb,  a  similar  work  of 
grace  began  in  September  of  the  same  year.  In 
March  of  the  next  year,  at  New  Londonderry, 
Pa.,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Samuel  Blair, 
there  was  an  awakening  of  considerable  interest. 
These,  and  other  instances  which  might  be  men- 
tioned, show  how  the  leaven  of  a  new  life  was 
working  in  many  places  widely  separated  from 


A  Great  Evangelist  Comes.  53 

each  other,  })ut  all  disclosing  remarkably  similar 
conditions  and  results. 

But  the  great  awakening  did  not  reach  its 
culmination  until  Whitefield  came.  It  was  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  1735,  when  the  town  of 
Northampton  Avas  all  ablaze  with  the  first  reviv- 
al under  Edwards,  that  this  matchless  evangelist 
was  converted  at  Oxford,  England.  In  1736  he 
was  ordained  a  deacon  in  the  Church  of  England, 
and  in  May,  1738,  when  the  glow  of  the  awak- 
ening at  Northampton  had  nearly  vanished  away, 
he  arrived  at  Savannah,  Ga.  After  a  three 
months'  stay  in  the  new  colony,  he  returned  to 
England  to  secure  for  himself  priest's  orders, 
and  to  collect  much-needed  funds  for  the  orphan- 
age hie  had  projected.  He  secured  both  the  or- 
ders and  the  funds,  and,  being  providentially  de- 
tained in  the  United  Kingdom,  he  began  that 
wonderful  career  as  an  evangelist  which  he  con- 
tinued until  his  death.  His  amazing  eloquence 
and  irresistible  fervor  drew  hundreds  to  the 
churches  in  which  he  first  appeared.  The  mul- 
titudes so  thronged  to  his  ministry  that  the 
churches  were  eventually  closed  to  him,  and 
the  Bishop  of  London  issued  a  pastoral  letter 
warning  the  people  against  him.  Then  he  went 
to  the  fields,  whither  thousands  of  every  rank 


54  Whifefiekl  in  Philadelphia. 

and  station  of  life  followed  him  to  hear  the  won- 
derful words  of  life  which  fell  from  his  youth- 
ful lips,  touched  with  heavenly  fire.  As  soon  as 
the  embargo,  whereby  he  had  been  detained  in 
England,  was  lifted,  he  sailed  for  America,  tak- 
ing passage  for  Philadelphia,  but  bound  for 
Georgia.  His  great  and  sudden  fame  had  pre- 
ceded him  to  the  New  World,  notwithstanding 
the  slow  methods  of  communication  common  in 
those  days.  The  party  w^ith  which  he  started 
back  to  his  work  in  Georgia  consisted  of  seven- 
teen persons,  including  himself  and  William 
Seward.  After  a  voyage  of  eleven  weeks  they 
came  to  land,  on  October  30, 1739,  at  Lewistown, 


about  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Philadel- 
phia. On  the  next  day  he  preached  by  request, 
and  at  five  oclock  in  the  afternoon,  in  company 
with  Seward  and  another  friend,  set  out  on  horse- 
back for  Philadelphia,  the  rest  of  his  party, 
which  he  called  his  "family,"  proceeding  thither 
by  water.  By  11  p.  m.  ,  November  2,  with  his  two 
friends,  he  arrived  at  the  "City  of  Brotherly 
Love."  Next  morning  he  ''went  aboard  the 
Elizabeth  to  see  his  family;"  then  visited  the 
officials  of  the  town,  and,  after  holding  commun- 
ion "with  some  precious  souls,"  he  "hired  a 
house  at  a  very  cheap  rate  and  was  quite  settled 


"Much  Comforted:'  55 

in  it  before  ni^ht."  He  was  a  man  of  swift 
movements,  and  he  began  preaching  at  once  in 
the  churches  and  on  the  "courthouse  stairs," 
preaching  twice  or  thrice  every  day  while  he  re- 
mained in  the  city,  and  holding  earnest  conver- 
sations with  men  and  women,  ministers  and  lay- 
men of  all  the  Churches,  including  Episcopalians, 
Quakers,  Baptists,  and  Presbyterians.  Thou- 
sands flocked  to  hear  him.  The  population  of  the 
city  at  that  time  did  not  exceed  12,000  souls, 
yet  his  audiences  when  he  preached  from  the 
courthouse  stairs  numbered  from  6,000  to  8,000. 
It  thus  appears  that  he  drew  not  only  the  peo- 
ple of  the  city,  but  those  also  of  neighboring 
places.  Among  others  who  came  to  see  and 
hear  him  was  the  venerable  William  Tennent, 
founder  of  the  famous  "Log  College,"  and  fa- 
ther of  Charles,  John,  William,  and  Gilbert 
Tennent.  He  was  now  keeping  an  academy  at 
Neshaminy,  and  met  Whitefield  on  November  10 
in  Philadelphia,  and  by  his  coming  Whitefield 
"was  much  comforted."  On  November  12  the 
ofreat  evanofelist  set  out  overland  for  New  York. 

to  to 

On  the  way  he  preached  at  "Burlington  in  the 
Jerseys."  At  Brunswick  he  preached  in  the 
church  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  whom  he  describes 
as  a  man  of  about  forty  years  of  age,  and  of 


56       Whitefield  and  Tennent  in  New  York. 

whom  he  says:  "He  and  his  associates  are  now 
the  burning  and  shining  lights  in  this  part  of 
America."  Tennent  joined  his  party  in  the  visit 
to  New  York,  where  they  arrived  at  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  November  14,  having 
spent  the  time  on  the  w^ay  "most  agreeably  in 
telling  one  another  what  God  had  done  for  their 
souls. "  They  were  hospitably  received  by  a  Mr. 
Noble,  and  at  night  in  the  "meetinghouse"  (not 
"the  church")  Tennent  preached.  Of  the  ser- 
mon Whitefield  says:  "I  never  before  heard 
such  a  searching  sermon.  He  convinced  me 
more  and  more  that  we  can  preach  the  gospel  of 
Christ  no  further  than  we  have  experienced  the 
power  of  it  in  our  own  hearts.  Being  deeply 
convicted  of  sin  by  God's  Holy  Spirit,  at  his 
fii'st  conversion,  Mr.  Tennent  has  learned  ex- 
perimentally to  dissect  the  heart  of  the  natural 
man.  Hypocrites  must  soon  be  converted  or  en- 
raged at  his  preaching.  He  is  a  son  of  thunder 
and  does  not  fear  the  faces  of  men."  The  evan- 
gelist tarried  but  four  days  in  New  York,  preach- 
ing in  the  open  air  and  in  the  Presbyterian 
"meetinghouse"  in  charge  of  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Pemberton,  because  the  Episcopal  Church  and 
the  town  hall  were  both  denied  him.  Cf  his 
four  days'  ministry  in  New  York  a  correspond- 


Personal  Appearance  of  Wliitefield,         57 

ent  of  Prince's  Christian  Eistorij  (a  period- 
ical founded  by  the  suggestion  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards to  promote  the  gi'eat  revival  by  publish- 
ing the  results  of  the  work  as  it  progressed) 
wrote:  "I  never  saw  in  my  life  such  attentive 
audiences  as  Mr.  Whitefield's  in  New  York.  All 
he  said  was  demonstration,  life,  and  power.  The 
people's  eyes  and  ears  hung  upon  his  lips.  They 
greedily  devoured  every  word.  He  preached 
during  four  days,  twice  every  day.  He  is  a  man 
of  middle  stature,  of  a  slender  body,  of  a  fair 
complexion,  and  of  a  comely  appearance.  He  is 
of  a  sprightly,  cheerful  temper,  and  acts  and 
moves  with  great  agility  and  life.  The  endow- 
ments of  his  mind  are  uncommon;  his  wit  is 
quick  and  piercing:  his  imagination  lively  and 
florid;  and,  as  far  as  I  can  discern,  both  are  un- 
der the  direction  of  a  solid  judgment.  He  has 
a  most  ready  memory  and,  I  think,  speaks  en- 
tirely without  notes.  He  has  a  clear  and  music- 
al voice,  and  a  wonderful  command  of  it.  He 
uses  much  gesture  but  with  great  propriety. 
Every  accent  of  his  voice,  every  motion  of  his 
body  speaks;  and  both  are  natural  and  unaffect- 
ed. If  his  delivery  be  the  product  of  art,  it  is 
certainly  the  perfection  of  it,  for  it  is  entirely 
concealed.     He  has  a  gi-eat  mastery  of  words, 


68  Whitefield  in  Xeiv  Jersey. 

but  studies  much  plainness  of  speech.  He  spends 
not  his  zeal  in  trifles.  He  breathes  a  most  cath- 
olic spirit,  and  prof  esses  that  his  whole  design  is 
to  bring  men  to  Christ,  and  that  if  he  can  obtain 
this  end  his  converts  may  go  to  what  Church 
and  worship  God  in  what  form  they  like  best." 

What  a  picture  of  a  preacher  just  twenty-four 
years  of  age !  Nobody  thought  of  such  a  man  as 
a  ''boy  preacher,"  for  his  power  was  not  in  any 
juvenile  peculiarity  of  person,  precocity  of  mind, 
or  eccentricity  of  manner,  but  in  demonstration 
of  the  Spirit. 

From  New  York  he  proceeded  to  Elizabeth- 
town,  N.  J. ,  in  response  to  a  letter  from  the  Kev. 
Jonathan  Dickinson,  the  pastor  of  the  Presbyte- 
tian  Church  at  that  place.  There  he  preached  on 
November  19,  and  then  went  on  to  New  Bruns- 
wick, w^here  on  November  20  he  preached  three 
times  in  Gilbert  Tennenfs  church.  In  his  con- 
gregation was  present  that  day  Rev.  Theodore 
J.  Frelinghuysen,  wdio  was  pastor  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  at  Raritan,  N.  J.,  and  who 
later  was  very  efficient  in  the  promotion  of  the 
great  evangelical  movement.  From  New  Bruns- 
wick he  went  to  jVIaidenhead,  where  he  preached 
from  a  wagon  to  about  fifteen  hundred  people. 
Rev.  John  Rowdand,  an  irregular  but  exceeding- 


One  of  the  Old  Prophets.  59 

ly  effective  revivalist,  who  was  very  useful  in 
his  day,  having  arranged  for  the  service  in  the 
open  air.  From  Maidenhead  he  went  to  Tren- 
ton, attended  by  a  company  of  "above  thirty 
horse,"  where  he  preached  in  the  courthouse. 

Leaving  Trenton  on  Thursday,  November  22, 
he  set  out  for  Neshaminy,  twenty  miles  away, 
where  the  venerable  William  Tennent,  the  keeper 
of  the  academy,  had  made  an  appointment  for 
him  to  preach.  He  was  delayed  until  a])Out 
twelve  o'clock  in  reaching  the  place,  and  when 
he  arrived  he  found  the  aged  minister  and  teach- 
er preaching  to  a  congregation  of  above  three 
thousand  people.  When  the  belated  evangelist 
came  up,  the  old  man  stopped  his  discourse. 
After  the  singing  of  a  Psalm,  Whitefield  began 
to  speak,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  discourse 
Gilbert  Tennent,  who  had  come  with  him  from 
New  Brunswick,  gave  a  word  of  exhortation. 
The  exercises  being  over,  they  went  home  with 
"old  Mr.  Tennent,  who  entertained  them  like 
one  of  the  ancient  prophets,"  says  Whitefield  in 
his  journal.  Of  this  visit  to  the  founder  of  the 
"Log  College,"  a  visit  of  great  importance  in 
the  history  of  the  great  awakening,  the 
journal  says:  "His  wife  seemed  to  me  like  Eliz- 
abeth and  he  like  Zacharias;  both,  as  far  as  I 


'60  The  Log  College. 

can  find,  walk  in  all  the  ordinances  and  com- 
mandments of  the  Lord,  blameless.  We  had 
sweet  communion  with  each  other  and  spent  the 
evening  in  concerting  measures  for  promoting 
our  Lord's  kingdom.  It  happens  very  provi- 
dentially that  Mr.  Tennent  and  his  brethren 
are  appointed  to  be  a  presbytery  by  the  synod, 
so  that  they  intend  breeding  up  gracious  youths, 
and  sending  them  out  into  the  Lord's  vineyard. 
The  place  where  the  young  men  study  now  is 
in  contempt  called  'the  College.'  It  is  a  log 
house,  about  twenty  feet  long  and  nearly  as 
many  broad;  and  to  me  it  seemed  to  resemble 
the  school  of  the  old  prophets.  From  this  de- 
spised place  seven  or  eight  worthy  ministers  of 
Jesus  have  lately  been  sent  forth;  more  are  al- 
most ready  to  be  sent;  and  a  foundation  is  now 
laying  for  the  instruction  of  many  others.  The 
devil  will  certainly  rage  against  them;  but  the 
work,  I  am  persuaded,  is  of  God  and  will  not 
come  to  naught.  Carnal  ministers  oppose  them 
strongly,  and  because  people,  when  awakened 
by  Mr.  Tennent  or  his  brethren,  see  through 
them,  and  therefore  leave  their  ministry,  the 
poor  gentlemen  are  loaded  with  contempt,  and 
looked  upon  as  persons  who  turn  the  world  up- 
side down." 


''The  Log  CoUege  Mejir  61 

And  those  "Log  College  men"  were  of  the 
company  of  them  who  were  to  bear  a  consider- 
able part  in  turning  the  New  World  upside 
down.  The  present-day  graduates  of  Princeton 
University  do  not  affect  more  influentially  the 
republic  of  to-day  than  those  men  who  then 
went  forth  from  the  "Log  College"  affected  the 
colonies.  Among  them  were  the  four  sons  of 
William  Tennent,  and  Rowland  and  Robinson 
and  Samuel  Blair.  Whitefield  was  touching  one 
of  the  very  fountain  heads  of  the  great  awaken- 
ing when  he  preached  on  that  bleak  Novem- 
ber morning  at  Neshaminy,  and  in  the  evening 
conferred  with  the  Tennents  and  concerted 
"measures  for  promoting  the  Lord's  kingdom." 

From  Neshaminy  he  rode  to  Abingdon,  ten 
miles  distant,  and  preached  "to  above  two  thou- 
sand people  from  a  porch  window  belonging  to 
the  meetinghouse."  From  Abingdon  he  has- 
tened to  Philadelphia,  where  he  found  his  "fam- 
ily" in  good  order  and  all  things  carried  on  ac- 
cording to  his  desire.  On  the  journey  to  and 
from  New  York  he  was  gone  from  Philadelphia 
ten  days — from  November  13  to  November  23. 
But  in  that  brief  space  he  had  stirred  the  young 
metropolis  of  the  coming  nation,  kindled  reviv- 
al fires  all  along  the  way  he  had  passed  over, 


62  In  Philadelphia  Again. 

and  contracted  a  lifetime  friendship  with  the 
Tenneuts.  All  this  meant  rouch  to  the  progress 
and  power  of  the  great  awakening. 

He  remained  in  Philadelphia  six  days,  and 
then,  after  settling  all  the  affairs  of  his  "family" 
to  his  satisfaction,  he  directed  them  to  set  sail 
for  Georgia  immediately  after  his  own  departure 
from  Philadelphia  by  land.  During  those  six 
days,  excepting  November  27,  when  he  went  to 
German  town  for  a  service,  he  preached  twice  a 
day  in  the  city.  The  church  not  being  able  to 
hold  the  people  who  thronged  to  hear  him, 
on  Wednesday,  November  28,  he  went  to  the 
fields'  and  ' '  preached  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  from 
a  balcony,  to  upward  of  ten  thousand  hearers, 
very  attentive  and  much  affected." 

On  the  day  he  left  Philadelphia,  November 
21),  the  people  crowded  around  the  door  of  the 
house  where  he  lodged,  from  seven  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  weeping  bitterly  as  they  parted 
from  him.  Nearly  a  score  of  men  accompanied 
him  and  William  Seward  out  of  town,  and  seven 
miles  out  they  were  joined  by  another  company 
who  were  waiting  to  meet  them,  so  that  they 
proceeded  to  Chester  in  a  band  of  "nearly  two 
hundred  horse. "  They  reached  Chester  by  three 
in  the  afternoon,  and  from  a  balcony  he  preached 


From  Philadelphia  SoiithivarcL  63 

to  ''about  five  thousand  people,"  nearly  a  thou- 
sand of  whom  had  followed  him  from  Philadel- 
phia. Of  the  influence  of  Whitefield's  ministry 
upon  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  Benjamin 
Franklin  wrote  in  his  journal:  "From  being 
thoughtless  and  indifferent  about  religion,  it 
seemed  as  if  all  the  world  were  growing  reli- 
gious, so  that  one  could  not  walk  through  Phila- 
delphia in  the  evening  without  hearing  Psalms 
sung  in  different  families  of  every  street." 

From  Chester  he  went  to  Wilmington,  Del., 
where  he  met  another  of  the  Tennents,  William 
the  younger,  whom  he  describes  as  "a  faithful 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ."  Thence  he  went  on 
to  Newcastle,  Christian  Bridge,  and  Whiteclay 
Creek,  which  last  place  he  reached  on  December 
2.  There  he  preached  to  about  ten  thousand  peo- 
ple, assembled  under  a  tent  "erected  by  order 
of  Charles  Tenuent,  whose  meetinghouse  was 
near  the  place."  "The  weather  was  rainy  and 
cold,"  but  the  people  came  together  to  hear  him 
despite  all  discomforts  and  inconveniences. 
"Many  souls  were  melted  down,"  he  says,  at 
the  two  services  he  held  under  the  tent  at  White- 
clay  Creek. 

From  there  he  went  into  Maryland,  preaching 
at  North  East,  Joppa,  Newton,  Annapolis,  and 


64  Sermo7is  and  Subjects. 

Upper  Marlborough.  He  passed  on  through 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  preaching  as  he  went, 
and  after  a  journey  of  five  weeks'  duration, 
through  primeval  forests,  uncultivated  plains, 
and  miasmal  swamps,  he  reached  Savannah, 
January,  1740.  His  ' '  family  "  he  sent  by  water, 
while  he  went  by  land,  as  ''the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness." 

Arrived  at  Savannah  he  busied  himself  with 
the  erection  of  his  Orphan  House,  and  with 
preaching  almost  every  day.  His  themes,  ac- 
cording to  the  "Journal  of  the  Proceedings  in 
Georgia,"  by  William  Stephens,  Esq.,  were 
''Justification  by  Faith"  and  "Regeneration," 
which  subjects,  and  the  sermons  of  Whitefield 
upon  them,  it  should  be  remarked,  the  said 
William  Stephens,  Esq.,  and  his  associates  in 
Georgia  did  not  relish. 

He  remained  in  Savannah  about  a  month, 
when,  on  February  11,  he  started  to  Frederica 
"to  pay  his  respects  to  General  Oglethorpe, 
and  to  fetch  the  orphans  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  colony"  to  his  Orphan  House  at  Savannah. 
He  was  gone  seventeen  days  on  this  journey, 
and  returned  to  the  orphanage  on  February  28 
with  four  orphans.  A  fortnight  afterwards  he 
embarked  for  Charleston  to  see  his  brother,  who 


Called  Northward,  65 

was  *' lately  arrived  there  from  England/'  On 
March  21  he  was  back  again  in  Savannah,  hav- 
ing spent  from  the  loth  to  the  20th  in  Charles- 
ton, where  he  preached  daily  in  the  Independent 
and  Baptist  "meetinghouses,"  being  denied  ad- 
mission to  the  pulpit  of  "the  Church"  by  the 
Rev.  Alexander  Garden,  the  pompous  little 
"commissary"  of  the  Bishop  of  London  in  the 
Colony  of  South  Carolina. 

After  a  stay  of  nine  days  in  Savannah,  on  the 
30th  day  of  March  he  took  affectionate  leave  of 
his  parishioners,  "because  it  appeared  that  Prov- 
idence called  him  toward  the  northward."  In 
their  own  sloop,  the  Savannah^  be  and  Wil- 
liam Seward  set  oat  on  the  journey  which  occu- 
pied the  next  two  months,  touching  at  Charles- 
ton, from  which  port  they  sailed  on  April  2. 
After  a  voyage  of  ten  days,  they  landed  at 
Newcastle,  in  Pennsylvania,  on  April  13,  which 
was  Sunday.  Whitefield  preached  in  the  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  morning,  and  after  the 
service  Seward  rode  to  Christian  Bridge  and 
Whiteclay  Creek  (where  Charles  Tennent  was 
pastor)  to  announce  that  the  great  evangelist 
would  preach  again  at  Newcastle  in  the  after- 
noon. Quickly  Tennent  and  others,  to  the 
number  of  two  hundred,  mounted  their  horses 
6 


66  At  Newcastle  aftd  Wilmington, 

and  galloped  away  to  Newcastle  to  hear  him.' 
From  Newcastle  he  proceeded  to  Philadelphia, 
stopping  at  Wilmington  on  the  way,  where, 
from  the  balcony  of  the  house  in  which  he 
lodged,  he  preached  to  about  3,000  people.  By 
this  route  he  had  gone  southward,  and  now,  re- 
turning northward,  he  was  met  with  many  and 
striking  evidences  of  the  effectiveness  of  his  first 
preaching  in  America.  At  Newcastle  Charles 
Tennent  told  him  how  that,  as  a  result  of  his 
former  visit  to  that  region,  "a  general  outward 
reformation  was  visible,"  and  how  "many  min- 
isters had  been  quickened  and  congregations  in- 
creased." At  Wilmington  many  persons  came 
to  see  him,  among  them  Mr.  Jones,  the  Baptist 
minister,  who  informed  him  of  the  progress  of 
the  awakening,  particularly  mentioning  the 
cases  of  two  other  ministers  who  had  been 
awakened  by  Whitefield's  preaching.  One  of 
them,  Mr.  Morgan,  on  his  conversion  had  at 
once  become  active  in  the  work,  and  "had  gone 
forth  preaching  toward  the  seacoast  in  the 
Jerseys;"  the  other,  Mr.  Treat,  "had  told  his 
congregation  that  he  had  been  hitherto  deceiv- 
ing himself  and  them,  and  that  he  could  not 
preach  again  at  present,  but  desired  them  to 
join    in    prayer   with    him."     These  accounts 


Back  in  Philadelphia,  67 

deeply  impressed  and  greatly  encouraged  White- 
field,  who,  in  a  letter  written  on  the  day  he 
reached  Philadelphia,  says:  "I  find  that  God  has 
been  pleased  to  do  great  things  by  what  he  en- 
abled me  to  deliver  when  here  last  year.  Two 
ministers  have  been  convinced  of  their  formal 
state,  notwithstanding  they  held  and  preached 
the  doctrines  of  grace.  One  plainly  told  the 
congregation  that  he  had  been  deceiving  himself 
and  them,  and  could  not  preach  any  more,  but 
desired  the  people  to  pray  with  him.  The  other 
is  now  a  flame  of  fire,  and  has  been  much  owned 
of  God.  Very  many,  I  believe,  of  late  have 
been  brought  savingly  to  believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus.  The  work  much  increases.  A  primitive 
spirit  revives." 

He  arrived  in  Philadelphia  on  April  14,  and 
remained  until  the  23d— nine  days.  The  par- 
ish church  was  now  denied  him,  as  had  not  been 
the  case  on  his  previous  visit.  But  this  turned 
out  to  the  furtherance  of  the  gospel  through 
him,  for  his  friends  erected  a  stage  for  him  on 
what  was  called  Society  Hill,  around  which,  as 
if  drawn  by  magic,  congregations,  numbering 
from  five  to  fifteen  thousand  people,  gathered 
to  hear  him.  During  the  nine  days  he  preached 
not  only  to  multitudes  in  the  city,  but  also  to 


68  Meets  Peter  Bolder. 

thousands  at  neighboring  points,  visiting  Ab- 
ingdon, Whitemarsh,  German  town,  Greenwich, 
and  Gloucester. 

Besides  reviving  the  Churches  ah'eady  in  ex- 
istence in  Philadelphia,  Whitefield's  ministry 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  which  Gilbert  Tennent  some  years 
later  became  the  pastor.  It  began  in  a  build- 
ing erected  for  the  use  of  the  Tennentsand  their 
associates.  This  building  afterwards  became 
the  first  seat  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

From  Philadelphia,  he  proceeded  over  his 
former  track  to  Neshaminy,  Shippack,  Amwell, 
and  New  Brunswick.  At  Shippack  he  first  met 
the  celebrated  Moravian,  Peter  Bohler,  who  was 
so  intimately  connected  with  John  Wesley  at  a 
critical  moment  in  the  history  of  that  great  man. 
At  Amwell,  Gilbert  Tennent  and  three  other 
Presbyterian  preachers  from  New  Brunswick 
came  to  meet  him,  in  whose  company  he  went 
to  New  Brunswick,  and  preached  on  Sunday, 
April  27,  to  congregations  of  seven  or  eight 
thousand  souls. 

From  New  Brunswick,  he  "dispatched"  Wil- 
liam Seward  to  England,  to  "bring  over  a  fel- 
low-laborer, and  to  transact  several  affairs  of 
importance,"  while  he   went  on  his  itinerary, 


From  Philadelphia  to  Kew  York.  69 

preaching  at  Woodbridge,  Elizabethtown,  and 
other  points. 

On  April  29  he  arrived  at  New  York,  where 
he  "preached  on  the  common  to  five  or  six  thou- 
sand." During  the  night  the  people  erected  for 
him  a  scaffold  from  which  on  April  30  he 
preached  twice,  to  congregations  which,  it  was 
estimated,  were  composed  of  over  eight  thousand 
people.  He  stayed  at  New  York  four  days, 
during  which  time,  besides  preaching  eight 
times  in  the  city,  he  preached  once  in  a  church 
which  the  Dutch  ministers  of  Long  Island 
opened  to  him.  Then,  returning  toward  Philadel- 
phia, he  preached  to  multitudes  at  Freehold, 
Allentown,  Burlington,  and  Bristol. 

On  May  8  he  preached  in  Philadelphia  twice, 
to  larger  congregations  than  ever  before  there. 
There  he  remained  till  May  12,  preaching  daily, 
as  before,  to  immense  assemblies.  Then  he  set 
his  face  southward,  preaching  at  Derby,  Ches- 
ter, Wilmington,  Whiteclay  Creek,  Nottingham, 
Fagg's  Manor,  and  Newcastle.  At  the  last-men- 
tioned place  his  sloop,  the  Savannah,  awaited 
him,  which  he  boarded  on  May  15.  In  the  brief 
space  of  one  month  he  had  preached  twice  a  day 
at  points  all  along  the  way  from  Newcastle  to  New 
York,  and  back  again,  and  thereby  stirred  the 


7Q  Back  in  Georgia. 

people  in  all  the  intervening  region  as  they  had 
never  been  moved  before.  It  is  quite  probable 
that  he  came  as  near  preaching  to  every  person 
in-  the  whole  district  thus  traversed  as  did  John 
the  Baptist  in  Palestine,  when  the  excited  multi- 
tudes of  Jerusalem  and  Judea  and  the  region 
around  about  Jordan  went  out  to  hear  the  gos- 
pel of  repentance  preached  with  unearthly  pow- 
er by  the  fiery  prophet  of  the  wilderness. 

After  an  absence  of  nine  weeks,  he  was  again 
in  Savannah  on  June  5.  .  He  found  revival  fires 
kindled  in  the  Orphanage,  and  fanned  them  to  a 
flame.  On  June  13  he  wrote  to  a  minister  at 
New  York:  "Wonderful  things  have  been  done 
since  my  arrival  at  Savannah.  Such  an  awak- 
ening among  little  children,  I  never  saw  before." 

On  June  23  he  went  up  to  Ebenezer  to  visit 
the  Saltzburghers,  of  which  visit  he  says:  "I 
had  sweet  communion  with  their  ministers."  He 
stayed  with  them  two  days  and  returned  to  Sa- 
vannah, where  he  remained  until  June  30.  Of 
his  preaching  at  this  time,  William  Stephens, 
Esq.,  in  his  "Journal  of  the  Proceedings  in 
Georgia,"  says:  "Mr.  Whitefield  always  preaches 
and  prays  extempore.  For  some  time  past  he 
has  laid  aside  his  surplice,  and  has  managed  to 
get  justification  by  faith  and  the  new  birth  into 


Believing  without  Preaching  Election,       71 

every  sermon."  Robes  and  rituals  had  come  to 
be  of  small  importance  to  this  man  whose  fer- 
vent soul  was  fixed  on  the  great  essentials  of  that 
life  which  is  by  the  living  Spirit.  Unpersua- 
sive  dogmas,  without  practical  value  in  inducing 
men  to  come  to  Christ,  were  also  reckoned  as  of 
secondary  importance;  for  while  it  is  beyond 
doubt  that  he  was  an  ardent  Calvinist,  he  writes 
John  AYesley,  on  June  25:  "For  Christ's  sake, 
dear  sir,  if  possible,  never  speak  against  elec- 
tion in  your  sermons.  No  one  can  say  that  I 
ever  preached  it  in  public  discourse,  whatever 
my  private  sentiments  may  be." 

On  June  30  he  left  Savannah  and  went  to 
Charleston,  S.  C,  where  he  remained  three 
weeks,  from  July  2  to  July  2J:,  the  twenty-two 
days  being  spent  in  preaching  in  the  city  and  at 
neighboring  points,  and  in  defending  himself 
against  the  persecutions  and  prosecutions  of 
''Commissary  Garden."  Then  he  returned  to 
Savannah,  where  he  tarried  about  two  weeks. 
On  August  21  he  was  back  in  Charleston,  preach- 
ing during  a  brief  sojourn  there  once  every  day 
and  twice  on  Sundays.  The  diverting  ''Com- 
missary Garden"  was  still  frothing  and  fuming 
against  him.  Some  impression  of  the  situation 
in  Charleston  may  be  gr.thered  from  the  follow- 


72  Catholicity  of  Spirit, 

ing  passage  taken  out  of  bis  journal:  ''The audi- 
ences were  more  numerous  than  ever.  It  Avas 
supposed  that  not  less  than  four  thousand  were 
in  and  about  the  meetinghouse  when  I  preached 
my  farewell  sermon.  Being  denied  the  sacra- 
ment 'at  church,  I  administered  it  thrice  in  a 
private  house — namely,  yesterday,  yesterday  sev- 
en-night, and  this  morning.  Never  did  I  see 
anything  more  solemn.  The  room  was  large, 
and  most  of  the  communicants  were  dissolved  in 
tears.  Surely  Jesus  was  evidentl}^  set  forth  be- 
fore us.  Baptists,  Churchmen,  and  Presbyteri- 
ans all  joined  together,  and  received  according 
to  the  Church  of  England,  excepting  two,  who 
desired  to  have  it  sitting.  I  willingly  complied, 
knowing  that  it  was  a  thing  quite  indifferent." 
What  catholicity  of  spirit  was  this,  and  that, 
too,  in  an  age  marked  by  theological  contro- 
versy! This  scene  showed  a  characteristic  fea- 
ture of  Whitefield's  ministry — he  was  not  con- 
cerned for  things  "indifferent,"  and  the  multi- 
tudes whom  his  sermons  influenced  caught  from 
him  the  same  spirit.  It  was  well  that  such  a 
ministry  came  to  America  at  this  time,  and  that 
it  inspired  such  a  spirit  among  the  people.  If 
the  colonists  had  been  less  tenacious  of  their 
denominational   tenets    at    an  earlier  day,  re- 


Sails  for  Xeiv  England.  73 

li^ion  would  have  been  suffocated  by  indiffer-  / 
ence;  if  a  more  genial  spirit  of  tolerance  and 
catholicity  had  not  now  begun  to  be  prevalent, 
Christianity  would  have  perished  in  the  throes 
of  faction,  and  national  unity  of  action  would 
have  been  impossible  thirty  years  later,  when 
the  revolutionary  contest  with  Great  Britain 
began. 

A  few  days  afterwards  he  sailed  for  New 
England,  and  landed  at  Newport,  R.  I. ,  on  Sun- 
day evening,  September  14,  1740.  There  he 
remained  until  the  morning  of  the  ITth,  preach- 
ing, as  was  the  case  wherever  he  went,  to  vast 
congregations.  On  the  evening  of  the  18th  he 
arrived  in  Boston,  which  was  at  that  time  the 
largest  city  in  any  of  the  colonies,  having,  as  it 
did,  above  15,000  inhabitants.  He  went  to 
Boston  on  the  invitation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Col- 
man,  and  was  welcomed  by  all  the  Bostonians 
"except  a  famous  doctor  of  divinity,  who  met 
him  in  the  streets,  and  said,  'I  am  sorry  to  see 
you  here;'  and  to  whom  Whitefield  quietly 
remarked,  'So  is  the  devil.'" 

He  spent  ten  days  in  Boston  and  its  immedi- 
ate neighborhood,  preaching  daily  to  immense 
congregations.  The  next  seven  days  were  oc- 
cupied with  visiting  several  important  towns  at 


74  I^^  Boston. 

a  greater  distance,  including  Ipswich,  Marble- 
head,  Salem,  and  Newbury.  In  the  four  days 
he  rode  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles 
and  preached  sixteen  times.  Returning,  then, 
to  Boston,  he  tarried  there  and  in  the  vicinity 
seven  other  days,  preaching  during  the  week  at 
Charleston  and  Cambridge.  On  October  12th 
he  preached  his  farewell  sermon  to  the  Bosto- 
nians,  assembled  in  the  open  air  on  the  com- 
mons. The  governor  of  the  colony  carried  him 
in  his  coach  to  the  service,  where  ho  was  met 
by  a  congregation  of  nearly  20,000  people,  of 
which  occasion  he  writes  in  his  journal:  "I 
preached  ni}^  farewell  sermon  to  nearly  twenty 
thousand  people— a  sight  which  I  have  not  seen 
since  I  left  Blackheath."  In  the  month  which 
had  passed  since  he  landed  at  Newport  he  had 
preached  twice  a  day,  and  had  addressed  more 
people  in  New  England  than  any  public  speaker 
had  ever  addressed  before.  Departing,  he 
writes  thus  of  this,  his  first  visit  to  Boston  and 
the  surrounding  region:  "God  works  by  me 
more  than  ever.  I  am  quite  well  in  bodily 
health.  Ministers,  as  well  as  people,  are  stirred 
up,  and  the  government  is  exceeding  civil. 
.  .  .  God  shows  me  that  America  must  be 
my  place  for  action." 


WMfefield  with  Edwafds.      \  75 

At  his  suggestion  and  request  Gilbert  Ten- 
nent  came  to  Boston,  two  months,  afterwards, 
to  carry  on  the  w^ork,  and  continued  to  labor 
there  nearly  four  months.  This  w^ondrous 
movement,  thus  begun  at  Boston  by  Whitefield 
and  prosecuted  by  Gilbert  Tennent,  continued 
for  a  year  and  a  half.  As  a  result  of  it  thou- 
sands united  with  the  Churches,  the  zeal  of 
those  who  had  been  members  of  the  Churches 
previous  to  Whitefield's  coming  was  kindled 
into  a  flame,  the  ministers  preached  as  never  be- 
fore, and  thirty  new  religious  societies  were  in- 
stituted in  the  city.  Similar  results  followed  in 
the  neighboring  towns. 

Leaving  Boston,  Whitefield  preached  at  Con- 
cord, October  13,  Sudbury  and  :Marlborough  on 
the  14:th,  and  reached  Northampton,  the  home 
of  Jonathan  Edwards,  on  the  ITth.  He  tarried 
with  Edwards  until  the  20th,  preaching  daily  in 
the  church  of  which  that  extraordinary  man 
was  pastor.  They  had  never  met  before.  White- 
field  describes  Edwards  as  ''a  solid,  excellent 
Christian,"  and  Edwards  speaks  of  Whitefield's 
work  while  in  Northampton  on  this  wise: 
"The  congregation  was  extraordinarily  melted 
by  every  sermon,  almost  the  whole  assembly  be- 
ing in  tears.     His  sermons  were  suitable  to  the 


76  From  Xorthampton  to  Xeir  Yo7'l\ 

circumstances  of  the  town,  containing  just  re- 
proofs for  cur  backslidings,  and,  in  a  most 
moving  and  affecting  manner,  making  use  of 
GUI'  great  mercies  as  arguments  with  us  to  re- 
turn to  God,  from  whom  we  had  departed.  Irn^ 
mediately  after  this  the  minds  of  the  people  in 
general  appeared  more  engaged  in  religion. 
The  revival  was  at  first  principally  among  pro- 
fessors, to  whom  Mr.  Whitefield  had  chiefly  ad- 
dressed himself,  but  in  a  short  time  there  was 
deep  concern  among  young  persons.  By  the 
middle  of  December  a  very  considerable  w^ork  of 
God  appeared,  and  the  revival  continued  to  in- 
crease." 

The  work  at  Northampton  and  vicinity  con- 
tinued, with  scarcely  a  perceptible  interruption 
or  decline,  for  the  next  two  years.  Thus,  in 
1740,  Whitefield  revived  Edwards's  revival  of 
1735. 

Leaving  Northampton,  Whitefield  proceeded 
to  New  York,  preaching  at  Hatfield,  Westfield, 
Suffield,  Hertford,  Weathersfield,  Middletown, 
New  Haven,  Milford,  Stratford,  Fairfield,  New- 
ark, and  Stanford  during  the  ten  days  he  was  on 
the  way.  The  region  thu«  traversed  had  been 
blessed  in  the  awakening  which  began  at 
Northampton  five  years  before,  and  AYhitefield 


Best-Known  Man  in  America.  77 

DOW  rekindled  the   dying   fires   all  along  the 
journey  as  he  passed. 

He  remained  four  days  in  New  York,  and 
preached  seven  times.  "There  was  a  o^reat  and 
gi-acious  melting  among  the  people,"  he  says. 
Thence  he  started  to  Philadelphia,  and  during  • 
the  five  days  of  his  journey  thither  he  preached 
at  Staten  Island,  Newark,  Baskinridge,  New 
Brunswick,  and  Trenton.  At  New  Brunswick 
he  met  Gilbert  and  William  Tennent,  and,  as 
previously  stated,  arranged  that  the  former 
should  go  and  help  carry  on  the  work  in  Boston 
—an  epochal  step  in  the  history  of  the  great 
awakening.  About  the  first  of  November  he 
reached  Philadelphia,  and  wrote  to  Howell  Har- 
ris: "Little  did  I  think,  when  Mr.  E J 

wrote,  that  I  should  preach  in  all  the  chief 
cities  of  America;  but  that  is  now  done."  And 
it  was  even  so,  although  he  had  been  in  the 
country  only  a  little  more  than  a  year.  In  that 
time  he  had  twice  covered  the  distance  between 
New  York  and  Savannah,  had  made  repeated 
visits  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  had  made  the  voy- 
age to  New  England,  stirred  Boston  and  all 
the  surrounding  country,  had  passed  over 
the  track  of  the  revival  of  1735,  revisited 
New  York,  preached  for  the  third  time  over 


/ 


78  Preachin(j  in  a  Boofless  Church. 

the  way  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
and  was  now  back  at  the  latter  place,  where 
a  year  before  he  had  seen  the  first  great  tri- 
umphs of  his  gospel  in  the  New  World.  It  is 
certain  that  he  was  now  known  by  sight  to 
more  people  in  America  than  was  any  other 
man  in  the  colonies. 

On  Sunday  morning,  November  9,  he  preached 
in  the  house  that  had  been  built  since  his  last 
visit,  and  which,  as  has  been  before  mentioned, 
became  the  home  of  Gilbert  Tennent's  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  eventually 
the  first  seat  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  describes  it  thus:  *'It  is  a  hundred  feet  long 
and  seventy  feet  broad.  It  was  never  preached 
in  before.  The  roof  is  not  up  yet,  but  the  peo- 
ple raised  a  convenient  pulpit  and  boarded  the 
bottom."  During  the  following  week,  spent  so 
happily  among  his  friends  in  Philadelphia,  he 
preached  in  this  roofless  building  twice  every 
day  except  one  morning,  when  there  was  so 
much  snow  within  the  walls  that  it  became  nec- 
essary to  repair  to  "the  Presbyterian  meeting- 
house." 

He  left  Philadelphia  November  17,  and 
started  for  Savannah,  preaching  as  he  went  to 
assembled  thousands  at  Gloucester,  Greenwich, 


lietuDis  to  EyKjland,  79 

Piles  Grove,  Cohansie,  Salem,  Newcastle,  White- 
clay  Creek,  Fago:'s  jNIanor,  Nottingham,  Bo- 
hemia, St.  George's,  Reedy  Island,  and  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  He  arrived  at  Savannah  Saturday, 
December  13,  after  an  absence  of  eighteen 
weeks,  during  which  time  he  had  preached  near- 
ly two  hundred  times,  and  had  kindled  great  re- 
vival fires  throughout  all  the  colonies.  Thus  he 
closed  the  year  1740,  and  the  "Great  Awaken- 
ing of  1740"  was  so  called  from  the  year  in 
which  he  completed  for  the  first  time  his  circuit 
of  the  entire  country. 

He  remained  in  Savannah  until  New  Year's 
Day,  1741.  \yhile  nominally  incumbent  of  the 
parish  for  the  three  preceding  years,  he  had  re- 
ally spent  less  than  four  months  during  the 
whole  period  in  the  Colony  of  Georgia. 

Leaving  Savannah  January  1,  1741,  he  went 
again  to  Charleston,  where  he  arrived  on  Janu- 
ary 4.  He  remained  in  Charleston  twelve  days, 
during  which  time  he  was  brought  before  the 
civil  magistrate  in  a  proceeding  for  libel,  which 
was  no  doubt  instigated  by  "Commissary  Gar- 
den." Nevertheless,  he  preached  twice  every 
day  to  large  congregations.  On  January  16  he 
went  aboard  the  lUnerva  and  took  passage 
for  England,  landing  at  Falmouth  on  March  11. 


80  WhitefielcVs  Work  in  America, 

Thus  was  ended  his  second  visit  to  America. 
This  detailed  account  of  his  movements  during 
that  eventful  period  of  a  year  and  a  half  is 
given  because,  without  such  a  particular  narra- 
tion, his  part  in  the  great  awakening  can- 
not be  justly  measured,  nor  can  that  mighty 
movement  be  fully  comprehended.  Moreover, 
this  first  circuit  of  the  colonies  is  typical  of  all 
his  five  subsequent  visits,  except  that  his  fourth 
visit  was  cut  suddenly  short,  when  it  had  scarce- 
ly begun,  and  that  in  his  later  visits  he  more 
deeply  affected  Virginia  and  the  other  Southern 
colonies,  and  extended  his  labors  to  the  Bermu- 
das. Having  narrated  so  particularly  the  events 
of  this  second  visit  to  America,  a  minute  history 
of  these  subsequent  visits  is  unnecessary.  His 
ministry  to  America  may  be  expressed  in  this 
statement:  On  behalf  of  this  Western  world 
he  crossed  the  Atlantic,  in  slow-sailing  vessels, 
thirteen  times;  evangelized  the  British  Colonies 
from  Maine  to  Georgia;  rekindled  the  expiring 
fii-es  of  the  revivals  begun  by  Edwards  and  the 
Tennents,  fanning  them  to  a  flame  which  eventu- 
ally swept  as  a  general  conflagration  throughout 
all  the  colonies;  and,  by  repeated  circuits  of  the 
country,  prolonged  the  revival  movement  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  vigor  until  his  death,  in 


Preparing  the  Way  for  Others,  81 

1770,  a  few  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  War 
for  Independence,  and  a  year  after  the  arrival  in 
the  New  World  of  the  first  Wesleyan  preachers, 
by  w^hom,  and  tlieir  successors,  mighty  revivals 
were  brought  to  pass  in  later  years. 

Dr.  Abel  Stevens  thus  summarizes  some  of 
the  more  striking  results  of  AVhitetield's  minis- 
try in  America:  "The  Congregational  Churches 
of  New  England,  the  Presbyterians  and  Bap- 
tists of  the  Middle  States,  and  the  mixed  colo- 
nies of  the  South  owe  their  religious  life  and 
energy  to  the  impulse  given  by  Whitefield's 
powerful  ministration.  The  great  awaken- 
ing, under  Edwards,  had  not  only  subsided  be- 
fore Whitefield's  arrival,  but  had  reacted. 
Whitefield  restored  it,  and  the  New  England 
Churches  received,  under  his  labors,  an  inspira- 
tion of  zeal  and  energy  which  has  never  died 
out.  He  extended  the  revival  from  the  Congre- 
gational Churches  of  the  Eastern  to  the  Presby- 
terian Churches  of  the  Middle  States.  In  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey,  where  Frelinghuysen, 
Blair,  Rowland,  and  the  two  Tennents  had 
been  laboring  with  evangelical  zeal,  he  was  re- 
ceived as  a  prophet  of  God;  and  it  was  then  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  took  that  attitude  of 
evangelical  power  and  aggression  which  has 
6 


82  His  Influence  in  the  South, 

ever  since  characterized  it.  AYhitefield's  preach- 
ing, and  especially  the  reading  of  his  printed 
sermons  in  Virginia,  led  to  the  founding  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  that  State,  whence  it 
has  extended  to  the  South  and  Southwest.  The 
stock  from  which  the  Baptists  of  Virginia  and 
those  in  all  the  South  and  Southwest  have 
sprung  was  also  Whiteheklian.  And,  though 
.Whitelield  did  not  organize  the  results  of  his 
labors,  he  prepared  the  way  for  Wesley's  itiner- 
ants. When  he  descended  into  his  American 
grave  they  were  already  on  his  track.  They 
came  not  only  to  labor,  but  to  organize  their  la- 
bors; to  reproduce,  amid  the  peculiar  moral  ne- 
cessities of  the  Kew  World,  both  the  spirit 
and  method  of  the  great  movement  as  it  had 
been  organized  by  Wesley  in  the  Old." 

Before  passing  from  AVhitefield's  part  in  the 
great  awakening,  it  is  important  to  notice 
several  peculiarities  of  his  work  which  wonder- 
fully adapted  it  to  exercise  a  controlling  and  be- 
nign influence  during  that  period  of  the  nation's 
history  when  the  colonies  were  to  come  together 
in  a  federal  union.  And  first,  let  it  be  remarked 
that  his  doctrines  of  evangelical  and  experimen- 
tal Christianity,  as  opposed  to  sacrainentarianism 
and  formalism  in  religion,  mightily  contributed 


Faith  and  Freedom.  83 

to  the  development  of  the  spirit  of  freedom.  A 
man  who,  without  the  intervention  of  priestly 
absolution  or  sacramentarian  ceremony,  feels 
that  he  is  justified  by  faith  and  born  of  the 
Spirit,  receiving  directly  from  God  the  assur- 
ance of  his  deliverance  from  the  guilt  and  power 
of  sin,  inevitably  conceives  that  he  must  be  free. 
Priestcraft  in  religion  and  absolutism  in  govern- 
ment go  naturally  together;  but  where  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty,  even  political 
liberty  in  the  end.  Puritan  experience  of  that 
liberty,  wherewith  Christ  makes  men  free,  de- 
stroyed absolutism  in  England,  and  the  same 
spirit,  aroused  and  invigorated  by  the  revival 
under  Whitefield's  ministry,  prepared  the  way 
in  no  small  degree  for  constitutional  freedom  in 
the  United  States.  And  this  spirit  of  liberty, 
it  should  be  observed,  differs  from  that  mad 
frenzy  that  made  and  marred  the  French 
Revolution  by  so  much  as  it  is,  by  virtue 
of  the  fervent  love  with  which  it  coexists 
in  the  divinely  renewed  heart,  purged  from 
the  dross  of  selfishness  and  the  virus  of  vin- 
dictiveness.  One  who  is  a  son  of  God  by  the 
adoption  of  the  new  birth  not  only  conceives 
respect  for  his  own  manhood,  but  reverence 
for  the  manhood  of  all  other  men.     He  claims 


84      Whitefield^ s  Calvinism  and  Catholicity, 

freedom  for  himself  and  denies  not  liberty  to 
others. 

Whitefield  was  a  Calvinist  of  the  Calvinists; 
otherwise  he  could  never  have  secured  access  to 
the  Churches  which  represented  the  organized 
Christianity  of  the  colonies  at  his  coming.  They 
would  with  one  consent  have  rejected  Wesley  as 
a  heretic  and  have  closed  their  doors  against 
him.  But  Whitefield  did  not,  as  he  wrote  Wes- 
ley, preach  his  Calvinism.  He  laid  the  empha- 
sis of  his  ministry  on  the  experimental  doctrines 
of  justification  by  faith  and  the  new  birth,  leav- 
ing men  to  find  their  election  by  experiencing 
saving  grace.  Had  he  come  preaching  and  be- 
lieving Arminianism  as  Wesley  did,  he  would 
have  raised  a  continental  controversy  that  would 
have  hindered  all  the  forces  of  union  and  multi- 
plied all  the  divisive  tendencies  of  the  times. 
But  coming  with  his  gospel  of  saving  grace, 
omitting  to  preach  election,  in  which  he  believed, 
the  revival  which  resulted  from  his  ministry 
fused  the  discordant  elements  of  the  heteroge- 
neous peoples  of  the  colonies  into  one  family  of 
God.  The  Baptists  even  united  with  him  in  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Thus  the  colo- 
nists, being  mainly  of  British  ancestry  and 
who  had  some  bond  of  unity  by  birth,  came  to 


X 


Whitefiel'l,  Not  Wesley,  Needed.  85 

have  a  far  nobler  and  more  effective  kinship  by 
the  new  Inrth,  And  the  spirit  of  unity  was  the 
more  promoted  because  Whitefield  organized  no 
new  Church,  as  Wesley  most  certainly  would 
have  done  under  similar  circumstances.  It  was 
Whitefield,  not  Wesley,  that  America  needed 
just  at  that  moment. 

But  it  would  have  been  most  unfortunate  if 
Whitefield's  sermons,  by  which  the  hearts  of 
men  were  so  strongly  drawn  and  so  firmly  knit 
to  him,  had  been  of  a  character  to  forestall  the 
Methodist  itinerants  of  a  little  later  day.  This 
most  surely  would  have  been  the  case  had  he 
preached  with  his  wonted  zeal  the  Calvinism 
which  he  sincerely  believed.  But  this  he  did 
not  do,  and  the  meetings  of  the  Wesleyan  preach- 
ers, when  they  came,  were  more  like  Whitefield's 
revival  than  Whitefield's  meetings  were  like  the 
services  of  the  Calvinists  of  the  colonies  when 
he  came.  This  meant  much  in  the  making  of 
the  nation. 

Having  examined  in  detail  the  history  of  the 
great  awakening,  from  its  local  beginnings 
under  the  ministry  of  Edwards  and  the  Tennents, 
to  its  culmination  in  a  national  revival  under 
the  leadership  of  Whitefield,  we  arej)repare(Lta 
sum  up  its  effects'  and  to  measure  its  influence 


86  Excesses  and  Exuherances, 

on  the  British  Oolonies,  as  they,  moved  toward 
the  unity  of  a  single  nation,  during  this  event- 
ful period  of  their  history. 

In  estimating  the  force  and  appraising  the 
value  of  the  great  movement,  it  must  be  can- 
didly conceded  that  it  was  not  unattended  with 
some  things  which  cannot  be  approved.  There 
were  extravagances  and  irregularities  wholly 
foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  such,  for  example, 
as  the  follies  and  foibles  manifested  by  James 
Davenport.  There  w^as  also  a  spirit  of  censori- 
ousness  sometimes  engendered,  which  even 
Whitefield  did  not  escape,  and  which  he  subse- 
quently confessed  most  frankly  and  lamented 
most  sincerely.  But  all  these  things  are  almost 
inevitable  when  such  a  work  is  done.  A  great 
springtime  cannot  burst  upon  the  world  with 
the  precision  and  orderliness  of  a  mechanically 
directed  movement.  It  will  give  rise,by  its  very 
nature,  to  exuberances  and  excesses.  Such  was 
the  case  in  the  Corinthian  and  Thessalonian 
Churches  in  apostolic  times.  Similar  conditions 
attended  the  labors  of  Martin  Luther  and  John 
Knox  and  Wickliffe.  The  greatest  danger  to 
religion  at  such  a  time,  however,  is  not  the  un- 
wise and  excessive  fervor  of  inexperienced  souls, 
but  the  cold,  calculating  criticism  with   which 


Fire  and  Smoke.  87 

the  worldly  and  phlegmatic  members  of  the 
Church  seek  to  restrain  and  correct  the  irregu- 
larities of  the  enthusiastic.  A  newly  kindled 
fire  will  smoke  most  inconveniently  and  uncom- 
fortably at  the  first;  but  if  we  seek  to  get  rid  of 
the  smoke  by  smothering  the  blaze,  we  only 
make  the  matter  worse;  It  is  far  better  to  help 
the  fire  to  burn  itself  into  a  clear,  smokeless 
flame.  Paul's  remedy  for  the  disorders  at  Thes- 
salonica  was  indicated  by  the  exhortation 
"Quench  not  the  Spirit.  Despise  not  prophe- 
syings."  The  critics  of  the  great  awakening 
were  not  so  wise.  They  vainly  attempted  to 
clear  away  the  smoke  by  putting  out  the  fire. 
Thereby  they  made  more  smoke  around  them- 
selves, and  so  came  very  naturally  to  say  that 
the  benign  movement  was  all  smoke.  But  the 
ire  of  Heaven  was  in  it,  and  when  all  subtrac- 
tons  are  made  on  account  of  the  mistakes  and 
siis  of  some  who  were  identified  with  it,  the  fol- 
lo\<ng  blessed  results  remain: 

1  The  Churches  were  greatly  multiplied  and 
the?  membership  was  amazingly  increased. 
Fron  1740  to  1760  the  Congregational  Churches 
of  !Nw  England  were  increased  by  150  new 
churchs.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the 
populaion  of  New  England  at  that  time  was 


88  Churches  Increased. 

only  250,000,  such  an  increase  in  the  churches 
of  a  single  denomination  was  phenomenal.  The 
Presbyterian,  Baptist,  and  other  Churches  were 
proportionately  increased. 

As  to  the  number  of  converts,  James  Hammond 
Trumbull  estimates  that  in  two  or  three  years 
there  were  in  New  England  alone  thirty  or  forty 
thousand.     If  for  the  whole  country  we  place 
the  figures  at  50,000 — which  is  evidently  far  too 
low — we  have  a  most  extraordinary  harvest  of 
souls.     The  entire  population  of  all  the  British 
colonies  was  then  less  than  2,000,000.     The  pop- 
ulation of  the   United   States  now,    excepting 
Porto  Rico,  Alaska,  Hawaii,  and  the  Philippine 
Islands,    is    75,994,575,    or,    in    round    num- 
bers,    76,000,000.       If    now    we     should     be 
blessed  with  a  continental  revival  by  which  as 
great  a  proportion  of  the  people  were  convertec 
as  was  the   case  in    the  great  awakening,  tb 
result  would  be  expressed  by  the  number  1,90^,- 
000.      How  would  not  the  country  be  stired 
and  revolutionized  by  the  conversion  of  l,9p,- 
000  souls  now! 

2.  The  piety  of  the  Churches  was  as  wo)/ler- 
fully  elevated  as  their  numbers  were  inceased 
by  the  great  awakening.  It  was  ^muta- 
tive as  well  as  quantitative  in  its  powet     We 


Churches  Improved.  89 

have  seen  how  even  the  "Venerable  Stoddard" 
had  fallen  under  the  influence  of  the  opinion, 
prevalent  before  the  revival,  that  a  personal  ex- 
perience of  grace  was  not  requisite  to  Church 
membership.  And  if  such  was  his  position, 
what  must  have  been  the  attitude  of  others 
to  the  subject?  The  colleges  of  that  time  re- 
ceived as  candidates  for  the  ministry  young 
men  who  were  without  even  the  semblance  of 
piety.  If  a  candidate  for  ordination  was  not 
heretical  in  doctrine,  nor  scandalous  in  life,  he 
was  ordained  without  a  question  of  his  fitness. 
The  ministry  was  therefore  crowded  with  un- 
converted men.  At  the  time  of  Whitefield's 
third  visit  to  America,  1744  to  1748,  there  were 
not  less  than  twenty  ministers  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston  who  confessed  that  they  had  never  been 
converted  until  he  came,  in  1740 — and  New  En- 
gland was  then  the  home  of  the  best  type  of 
piety  in  all  the  land.  If  the  sons  of  Levi  were 
thu4  without  God,  what  must  have  been  the 
condition  of  the  unofficial  membership  of  the 
Churches? 

But  the  great  awakening  changed  all  that. 
Members  and  ministers  who  had  been  the  bane 
of  the  Churches  came  by  conversion  to  be  bless- 
ings to  the  land.     Since  that  time  no  man  has 


90  Catliolicitij  Promoted. 

dared  to  teach  in  the  United  States  that  an  un- 
converted ministry  is  tolerable  in  the  Churches. 
The  evil  leaven  of  that  doctrine  has  been  purged 
away  forever — an  immeasurable  blessing  that 
cannot  be  overstated! 

3.  The  great  awakening  created  and  pro- 
moted a  new  spirit  of  catholicity  among  the 
Churches.  It  was  no  accident,  but  of  pro^iden- 
tial  purpose,  that  the  first  colonists  were  not  all 
of  one  denomination,  but  were  of  diverse  theo- 
logical systems.  For  a  long  time  it  was  well 
that  they  were  tenacious  of  their  tenets  even  to 
intolerance;  otherwise  a  spirit  of  indifference 
might  have  utterly  overwhelmed  their  faith 
during  the  first  period  of  their  temptation  in  the 
wilderness.  We  may  look  with  much  forbear- 
ance upon  their  occasional  persecutions  of  each 
other,  when  we  consider  that  men  less  earnest 
during  such  a  period  would  probably  have  al- 
lowed religion  to  perish.  But  the  hour  had  now 
come  when  their  sharp  sectarianism  could  no 
longer  continue  without  serious  hurt  to  reli- 
gion and  permanent  damage  to  the  country. 
Whitefield,  with  his  broad,  catholic  spirit,  and 
mightily  absorbed  in  the  work  of  saving  souls 
without  regard  to  denominational  lines  or  secta- 
rian systems,  elevated  to  their  proper  position 


Apostolic  Evangelism  Restored.  91 

the  essentials  of  a  pure  Christianity  and  de- 
pressed to  a  just  subordination  things  nones- 
sential and  indifferent.  Thereby  in  reviving  the 
life  and  power  of  primitive  Christianity,  he  did 
also  restore  its  true  symmetry  and  proportions. 
This  was  great  gain  to  godliness,  and  much  ad- 
vantage to  the  republic  which  was  soon  to  be 
established.  Hereby  the  Americans  were  saved 
from  throwing  away  religion  as  did  the  French 
in  their  revolution,  and  also  from  quarreling 
over  religion  until  purity  perished  in  polemics. 
4.  A  distinct  and  nobler  manner  of  evangeli- 
zing and  regenerating  the  masses  was  begun — a 
type  more  nearly  a  copy  of  the  methods  of  the 
primitive  Church,  set  forth  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  than  anything  the  world  had  seen  for 
over  sixteen  centuries  before.  It  was  an  advance 
on  even  the  methods  of  such  men  as  Bunyan 
and  Baxter.  It  was  not  ritualistic  but  emphat- 
ically evangelistic.  Some  have  called  it  con- 
temptuously "revivalism."  Let  the  name,  giv- 
en in  derision,  be  accepted.  Revivalism  is  the 
characteristic  American  way  of  building  up  the 
Churches — a  way  that  began  among  the  colonists 
and  their  fathers  before  they  came  to  America, 
and  which  since  the  great  awakening  has 
continued  with  increasing  power  to  yield  the 


■^ 


92  The  American  Way, 

peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness.  It  is  essen- 
tially a  preaching  type;  its  chief  reliance  is  the 
gospel  "preached  with  the  Holy  Ghost  sent 
down  from  heaven."  It  expects  supernatural 
results  from  the  Word,  and  it  is  not  disappoint- 
ed. It  has  produced  the  highest  type  of  civili- 
zation and  the  purest  form  of  Christianity  on 
the  planet.  It  can  afford  to  endure  with  pa- 
tience the  jeers  of  the  unthinking  and  uncon- 
verted. 

In  this  connection  may  be  quoted  to  advan- 
tage a  striking  passage  from  "  The  Americaniza- 
tion of  the  World,"  by  W.  T.  Stead.  He  says: 
"Looking  over  the  religious  movements  of  the 
last  century  in  the  English-speaking  world, 
there  are  five  distinctly  discernible.  Of  these 
five,  only  one  is  of  English  origin.  The  Tracta- 
rian  movement  of  the  middle  century  was  dis- 
tinctly Anglican,  but,  beyond  a  certain  stimulus 
given  to  the  sensuous  exercise  of  divine  worship, 
its  influence  was  strictly  confined  within  the 
limits  of  its  own  sect.  The  other  four  move- 
ments have  been  much  wider  in  their  sweep. 
The  first  and  most  persistent  has  been  Revival- 
ism. This  was  distinctly  American  in  its  or- 
igin. No  doubt  there  have  been  revivals,  or, 
as  the  Catholics  would  say,  missions,  in  all  ages 


Known  by  Its  Fruits.  93 

of  the  Church;  but  the  systematized  revival,  the 
deliberate  organization  of  religious  services  for 
the  express  purpose  of  rousing  the  latent  moral 
enthusiasm  of  mankind,  is  a  distinctly  American 
product  of  the  last  century.    Wesley  and  White- 
field  may  have  sown  its  seeds,  but  it  grew  up 
across  the  Atlantic.     Revivalism  flourished  in 
the  United  States  long  before  it  was  acclima- 
tized on  this  side  of  the  water.     .     .     It  is  easy 
to  sneer  at  Revivalism,  but  it  has  been  the  means 
by  which  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  and 
women  have  found  their  way  to  a  higher  and  „ 
purer  life.     The  revivalist  may  often  seem  rude, 
uncultured,  even  vulgar,  Ijut  in  his  untutored  el- 
oquence millions  of  men  have  heard  for  the  first 
time  the  echoes  of  the  Divine  voice  that  spoke 
on  Sinai,  while  the  penitent  form  and  the  in- 
quiry room  have  been  to  many  a  sin-stricken 
soul  the  antechamber  of  heaven.     In  this  practi- 
cal, workyday  world  men  affect  great  admira- 
tion for  those  who  do  things,  as  opposed  to  the 
men  who  talk  about  them.     But  Revivalism  has 
done  things  which  the  more  cultured  and  refined 
would  not  even  have  ventured  to  attempt." 

5.  The  great  awakening  turned  the  hearts 
of  the  fathers  to  the  children  and  prepared  the 
way  for  the  Sunday  school  work  of  later  times. 


94  Sunday  Schools  and  Missions, 

Edwards  says:  "God  has  also  made  his  hand 
very  visible  and  his  work  glorious  in  the  multi- 
tudes of  little  children  that  have  been  wrought 
upon.  I  suppose  there  have  been  some  hundreds 
of  instances  of  this  nature  of  late,  any  one  of 
w^hich  formerly  would  have  been  looked  upon  as 
so  remarkable  as  to  be  worthy  to  be  recorded  and 
published  through  the  land."  It  may  be  ob- 
served in  passing  that  the  same  characteristic 
marked  the  Wesleyan  movement  in  Great  Brit- 
ain. It  is  not  accidental,  nor  mysterious  that 
the  Sunday  school  work  of  the  world  to-day  is 
mainly  confined  to  the  map  of  evangelistic 
Christianity,  and  that  it  scarcely  goes  beyond 
the  lands  directly  affected  by  these  great  reviv- 
als of  the  eighteenth  century. 

6.  The  cause  of  missions  was  set  forward  by 
the  great  awakening.  Tracy,  in  his  famous 
book  on  the  "Awakening,"  says:  "The  influence 
of  this  revival  on  the  cause  of  missions  to  the 
heathen  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  The  New 
England  Pilgrims  had  set  the  Protestant  world 
the  first  example  of  such  labors,  and  they  and 
their  descendants  had  sustained  the  work  for 
more  than  a  century.  Societies  had  been  formed 
in  Great  Britain  to  aid  them,  and  at  a  later  day 
some  kindred  movements  had  been  commenced 


Saving  the  Indians,  95 

on   the   continent   of   Europe.     Within   a   few 
years,    several   missions  had  been    established 
among  the  American  Indians,  but  few  conver- 
sions had  followed  them.     The  most  prosperous 
was  the  Stockbrido^e  Mission,  under  Sargent. 
The  revival  gave  an  impulse  to  the  work  at  near- 
ly all  the  stations.     On  Long  Island  thirty-five 
adults  and  forty-four  children  were  baptized  in 
two  years  from  1741.     Soon  after,  there  were 
numerous  conversions  among  those  near  Ston- 
injzton;  and  a  visit  from  them  was  the  means  of 
awakening  those   in   Westerly,  R.   I.     .     .     . 
Heathenism  seems  to  have  been  extirpated  from 
that  whole  region.     In  1743  Brainerd  began  his 
missionary  career  at  Kaunaumeek.     In  1745  he 
removed  to  New  Jersey,  and  commenced  his  la- 
bors at  the  forks  of  the  Delaware  and  Crosweek- 
sung.     His  first  visit  to  the  latter  place  was  at- 
tended with  the  evident  presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  awakening  and  conviction  of  his 
hearers.     When,  after  two  weeks,  he  left  them 
for  a  season,  William  Tennentwas  sent  for  and 
came  to  supply  his  place.     The  work  went  on 
under  Tennent's  preaching,  and  received  a  new 
impulse  on  Brainerd's  return.     All  Christendom 
knows  the  glorious  scenes  that  followed.     These 
dates,   the  name  of  Tennent,  and  the  history 


96  Saving  Savages  and  Slaves, 

of  Brainerd  while  at  New  Haven,  show  that 
Brainerd's  triumphs  were  a  part  of  this  great 
revival.*'  Jonathan  Edwards  remarks:  "The 
work  is  very  glorious  in  its  influences  and  effects 
On  many  that  have  been  very  ignorant  and  bar- 
barous, as  I  before  observed  of  the  Indians  and 
Negroes." 

In  this  great  revival  was  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  all  those  subsequent  efforts  of  Ameri- 
can Churches  to  rescue  the  perishing  Indian 
from  the  destructive  vices  of  a  secular  civiliza- 
tion and  the  superstition  of  his  own  savage  state. 
It  may  be  doubted  if  there  would  be  any  Indians 
at  all  in  the  United  States  at  the  present  day 
but  for  the  missionary  enterprises  of  the 
Churches. 

Here  also  began  those  efforts  on  behalf  of  the 
salvation  of  the  negro  which  have  been  the  pe- 
culiar glory  of  the  American  Churches.  Amer- 
ican Christianity  is  the  Philip  among  the  na- 
tional evangelists,  for  more  Africans  have  been 
brought  to  Christ  by  the  American  Churches — 
especially  by  those  laboring  in  the  Southern 
States — than  by  all  the  other  Churches  of  the 
world  combined. 

7.  The  cause  of  education  w^as  greatly  pro- 
moted by  the  great  awakening.     It   improved 


The  Bevival  and  Education.  97 

the  religious  spirit  and  tone  of  existing  institu- 
tions of  learning  and  gave  rise  to  new  ones. 

This  was  not  a  novel  or  unnatural  effect.  In 
the  hundred  years  following  the  labors  of  Wick- 
liffe,  twenty-four  universities  sprang  up.  Ritu- 
alistic Christianity  may  be  able  to  get  on  with- 
out producing  or  requiring  for  its  propagation 
men  of  learning.  Evangelistic  Christianity 
comes  preaching,  and  both  makes  and  needs  the 
learning  it  inspires. 

The  necessity  for  evangelical  preachers  gave 
birth  to  Princeton  University.  It  was  the  child 
of  the  revival,  and  Jonathan  Edwards  was  car- 
ried to  its  presidency,  not  because  he  was  a 
Presbyterian,  but  because  he  was  an  evangelic- 
al scholar  and  preacher.  He  was  received  there, 
Puritan  though  he  was,  as  Gilbert  Tennent, 
the  Presbyterian,  was  warmly  welcomed  to  the 
Congregational  pulpits   of  New  England. 

Dartmouth  College,  the  Alma  Hater  of  the 
great  Daniel  Webster,  was  also  the  direct  prod- 
uct of  the  great  awakening.  Its  founding 
was  on  this  wise :  Among  the  Mohegan  Indians 
converted  in  1741  was  Samson  Occum,  then 
seventeen  years  of  age.  In  December,  17-13, 
Rev.  Eleazar  Wheelock,  an  active  worker  in  the 
revival,  received  him  into  his  home  at  Lebanon j 
7 


98  Moor  and  DartinoutJu 

Conn.,  and  taught  him  for  several  years.  In 
I'I'iS  this  godly  preacher  and  teacher  determined 
to  commence  a  school  for  the  education  of  In- 
dian preachers.  Joshua  Moor,  a  farmer  in 
Mansfield,  who  had  been  affected  by  the  revival, 
gave  the  first  donation  for  the  founding  of  the 
school,  and  it  was  therefore  at  first  called 
"Moor's  Charity  School."  The  influence  of 
the  revival  brought  many  Indian  pupils  to  the 
school,  and  in  1766  Rev.  Nathaniel  Whittaker 
and  Samson  Occum  went  to  England  to  solicit 
funds  for  the  institution.  Whitefield  aided 
them.  Occum,  the  Indian  preacher,  attracted 
unusual  attention.  A  large  sum  of  money  was 
obtained,  Lord  Dartmouth  giving  the  most. 
He  was  a  convert  of  the  Wesleyan  revival, 
and  of  him  Cowper  sang: 

"We  boast  some  rich  ones  whom  the  gospel  message 
sways, 
And  one  who  wears  a  coronet  and  prays." 

His  donation  suggested  the  new  name  given  to 
the  institution  when  it  was  removed  to  Hanover. 
Founded  by  the  influence  of  the  revival,  its 
early  history  was  marked  by  a  series  of  re- 
markable revivals  extending  through  several 
years. 
The  faculties  of  Harvard  and  Yale  had  sharp 


Uniting  the  English  Nations.  99 

controversies  with  Whitefield ;  but  for  all  that 
they  participated  in  the  fruits  of  the  continental 
revival,  and  both  instructors  and  pupils  were 
gi'eatly  blessed  by  its  benign  influence. 

8.  The  gi'eat  awakening  wove  new  bonds 
of  affection  between  the  ^British  Isles  and  the 
American  Colonies.  Whitefield  came  to  Amer- 
ica from  the  *' Holy  Club"  of  the  Wesleys  at 
Oxford,  and  just  after  he  had  sounded  in  the 
open  air  the  first  notes  of  the  great  revival  in 
England,  which  changed  so  greatly  the  whole 
face  of  civilization  in  both  the  Old  and  the  New 
Worlds.  In  seven  successive  visits  to  the  New 
World  he  brought  to  the  colonies  revival  in- 
fluences and  carried  back  stimulating  accounts 
of  the  work  of  grace  in  America  which  fired 
afresh  the  zeal  of  the  revivalists  in  the  British 
Isles.  He  was  a  century  and  more  before  Fin. 
ney  and  Nettleton,  and  Moody  and  Sankey,  the 
creator  of  a  line  of  religious  communication 
and  fellowship  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  which  from  that  time  until  the 
present  has  been  an  increasingly  potential  fac- 
tor in  unifying  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  of  the 
earth.  This  Avas  highly  important  then  when 
the  revolutionary  influences  which  culminated 
in  the  War  of  Independence  were  gathering 


100  A  National  Spirit  Begotten, 

force  and  taking  form.  It  was  necessary  that 
the  colonies  should  be  independent,  but  it  was 
equally  necessary  that  they  should  not  be 
thrown  off  so  far  from  the  mother  country  as 
to  fall  under  the  influences  of  atheistic  and  rev- 
olutionary France — a  dreadful  peril  that  was 
barely  escaped,  and  which  would  not  have  been 
escaped  at  all  if  the  great  awakening  in 
America  and  the  Wesleyan  revival  in  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  had  not  intervened.  Those  seasons  of 
grace  were  godsends  truly ! 

9.  This  great  revival  of  continental  extent  re» 
generated  and  unified  the  colonies,  thus  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  a  political  union  of  Christian 
States.  The  land  was  blessed  with  a  moral  rev- 
olution of  the  most  beneficent  sort.  The  colonies 
were,  so  to  speak,  born  again.  They  respected 
themselves  and  loved  God  and  each  other  as 
never  before.  And  Whitefield,  ''  moving  up  and 
down  the  Atlantic  Coast  as  a  shuttle,  wove  to- 
gether the  sentiments  of  the  thirteen  colonies, 
and  made  union  possible  by  creating  a  national 
spirit. " 


Y. 
THE  WESLEYAN  REYIYAL. 


The  Methodist  moYement  is  the  starting  point  of 
our  modern  religions  polity,  and  the  field  preaching  of 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  is  the  event  wlience  the  religious 
epoch  now  current  must  date  its  commencement. — 
Isaac  Taylor. 

The  Methodist  movement  has  molded  the  spiritual 
character  of  the  English-speaking  Protestantism  of  the 
world. — Dean  Stanley. 

Although  the  career  of  the  elder  Pitt,  and  the 
splendid  victories  by  land  and  sea  that  were  won  dur- 
ing his  ministry,  form  unquestionaloly  the  most  daz- 
zling episodes  in  the  reign  of  George  II.,  they  must 
yield,  I  think,  in  real  importance  to  that  religious  rev- 
olution which  shortly  before  had  been  begun  in  En- 
gland by  the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield. 
The  creation  of  a  large,  powerful,  and  active  sect,  ex- 
tending over  both  hemispheres  and  numbering  many 
millions  of  souls,  was  but  one  of  its  consequences.  It 
also  exercised  a  jDrofound  and  lasting  influence  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  Established  Church,  upon  the  amount 
and  distribution  of  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation,  and 
even  upon  the  course  of  its  political  histor3\ — Lecky,  in 
''England  in  the  Eighteenth  Centitry."' 

No  Church  in  the  countr}^  [tlie  United  States]  has 
so  successfully  engaged  in  the  cause  of  education  as  the 
Methodist  Church. — Edward  Everett. 
(102) 


y. 

THE  WESLEYAN  REVIVAL. 

Although  the  Wesleyan  revival  began  in 
England,  its  influence  speedily  reached  America. 
From  amid  its  early  fires  came  Whitefield  at  the 
first,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  when  he 
was  on  the  sea,  headed  for  Charleston,  S.  C, 
making  his  last  voyage  to  the  Western  world, 
Eichard  Boardman  and  Joseph  Pilmoor,  the  first 
preachers  sent  by  Wesley  to  America,  were  sail- 
ino-  over  the  same  waves  bound  for  the  port  of 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  Other  Methodists  had  pre- 
ceded them  years  before,  and  many  others  were 
destined  to  come  after  them. 

As  John  Wesley  w^as  sailing  away  from  Sa- 
vannah, Ga.,  January  22,  1738,  after  his  brief 
and  unsatisfactory  career  in  the  infant  colony, 
he  wrote  in  his  journal:  ''I  took  leave  of 
America,  though,  if  it  please  God,  not  forever." 
He  never  returned  in  person,  but  in  the  coming 
of  his  followers  he  was  now  returning  in  spirit, 
and  was  beginning  to  affect  the  colonies  as  he 
little  dreamed  when  he  departed. 

Excepting  Whitefield,  the  first  fruits  of  the 

(103) 


104  Pioneers  f}'0}n  Ireland. 

Wesleyan  revival  which  reached  America  were 
from  Ireland,  and  they  illustrate  how  much  re- 
liirious  o^ood  came  to  the  colonies  from  the  re- 
vivals  and  persecutions  in  Europe  during  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

The  bigotry  of  Louis  XIV.  drove  many  Prot- 
estants of  the  Lower  Rhine — the  Palatinate— 
to  take  refuge  in  other  lands.  Over  a  hundred 
families  of  the  exiles  settled  in  Limerick,  Ire- 
land. In  1752  John  Wesley  preached  in  one  of 
the  villages  occupied  by  these  banished  people. 
A  society  was  organized  among  them,  and  one 
of  the  members  of  it  was  Philip  Embury,  a  car- 
penter, converted  when  Wesley  preached  there, 
and  who  became  a  local  preacher  in  it.  From 
that  colony  of  the  Palatines  in  Ireland  came  a 
goodly  company  to  New  York  in  1760,  and 
among  them  were  this  Philip  Embury,  Paul 
Heck,  and  his  wife,  Barbara  Heck,  and  other 
Methodists.  Through  their  labors,  and  the  ef- 
fective help  of  Captain  Webb,  of  the  British 
army,  w^ho  was  also  a  Wesleyan  local  preacher, 
and  who  was  now  barrack-master  at  Albany,  a 
Methodist  society  was  organized  in  New  York 
and  a  chapel  erected. 

In  1758  John  Wesley  preached  at  Drumsna, 
County  Leitrin\,  Ireland,  and  among  the  con- 


The  First  Itinerant  in  America,  1Q5 

verts  was  Robert  Strawbridge,  who  also  became 
a  local  preacher  and  emigrated  to  America, 
settling  on  Sam's  Creek,  in  the  backwoods  of 
Maryland,  about  the  year  1760.  He  preached, 
gathered  a  society  of  converts,  and  built  a  log 
meetinghouse  twenty-two  feet  square — the  fii'st 
Methodist  church  building  in  America.  After 
these  L'ish  emigrants  Wesley  sent  his  first 
preachers  to  be  shepherds  of  the  flock  in  the 
wilderness. 

To  the  society  of  Embury  and  the  other 
Methodists  in  New  York,  Boardman  and  Pil- 
moor  were  sent  by  the  Methodist  Conference, 
assembled  at  Leeds  August  3,  1769.  But  be- 
fore they  came,  by  at  least  two  months,  Hobert 
Williams,  the  first  itinerant  Methodist  preacher 
in  the  New  World,  came  at  his  own  charges  and 
on  his  own  motion.  He  came  not  by  help  of 
the  Conference,  nor  by  its  authority,  but  rather 
by  Wesley's  permission.  He  had  probably 
known  Strawbridge  in  Ireland,  for  he  had 
served  a  circuit  in  Ireland  which  included  with- 
in its  bounds  Sligo,  where  Strawbridge  lived 
and  labored  as  a  local  preacher  for  a  season. 
He  went  southward,  and  became  at  a  later  date 
the  apostle  of  Methodism  to  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.     He  was  also  the  spiritual  father  of 


lOG  Early  Methodists. 

Jesse  Lee,  by  whom  Methodism  was  subse- 
quently planted  in  New  England. 

During  the  same  year  (1760)  came  also  John 
King,  another  Methodist  preacher  who  reached 
America  before  Boardman  and  Pilmoor  ar- 
rived. He  was  a  strong  character  and  had 
studied  at  Oxford  and  in  the  medical  college  at 
London.  He  was  converted  under  Wesley's 
ministry,  and,  being  disinherited  by  his  father 
on  account  of  his  embracing  the  evangelical 
faith,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  preached 
his  first  sermon  in  the  ' '  potter's  field  "  at  Phila- 
delphia. He  was  a  widely  useful  man,  and  by 
his  efforts  Methodism  was  greatly  promoted  in 
the  colonies. 

These  were  the  pioneers  of  the  Wesleyan 
movement  in  America,  and  they  increased  rap- 
idly in  both  numbers  and  influence,  immigration 
and  evangelization  augmenting  their  ranks.  By 
them  the  religious  forces  of  America  were 
quickened  and  multiplied.  They  drew  after 
them  devout  souls  from  the  Wesleyan  centers 
in  the  British  Isles,  and  they  made  converts 
among  their  ungodly  neighbors  around  them. 
Through  them  the  Wesleyan  revival  was  thus 
replenishing  the  stock  of  pious  souls  in  the 
land  daring  the  last  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 


The  Bevival  and  Our  Katioml  Domain,    107 

tury  when  the  waves  of  the  great  awakening 
were  receding,  as  it  had  also  given  Whitefield 
to  rekindle  the  dying  flames  of  the  revivals  of 
Edwards  and  the  Tennents  in  lUO.  By  the 
year  1773— foui'  years  after  the  landing  of  the 
first  preachers  sent  out  by  the  Conference— the 
Methodists  had  increased  to  1,160  members.  By 
1784,  notwithstanding  the  War  of  Independence 
with  all  its  hindrances,  and  in  spite  of  ecclesias- 
tical opposition  to  their  Arminian  creed,  they 
numbered  in  the  colonies  14,983. 

Great  and  valuable  as  was  this  direct  contribu- 
tion of  the  Wesleyan  revival  to  the  moral  and 
religious  forces  of  America,  it  was  bringing  to 
pass  about  this  time  social  and  political  results 
in  the  British  Isles  that  have  indirectly  affected 
the  history  of  the  Great  Republic  in  a  far  more 
influential  manner.  It  was  reinvigorating  the 
moral  life  of  the  masses  in  Great  Britain,  there- 
by making  possible  political  reformations  and 
national  victories  which  determined  the  bound- 
aries of  the  British  colonies  in  America,  and 
foreordained  the  geographical  limits  of  the 
United  States  when  as  yet  the  nation  was  un- 
born. All  the  great  achievements  of  American 
ISIethodism,  wrought  during  the  last  century, 
have  not  more  powerfully  influenced  the  destiny 


108  Many  Bevivals  in  One. 

of  their  country  than  the  triumphs  of  faith 
which  their  Wesleyan  forefathers  were  winning 
at  this  time  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Humanly 
speaking,  it  appears  that  but  for'  the  Wesleyan 
revival  the  Great  Republic,  such  as  it  is,  never 
could  have  been  at  all. 

In  attributing  to  the  Wesleyan  revival  so  far- 
reaching  an  influence,  it  is  not  to  be  understood 
that  religious  movements  outside  the  Wesleyan 
body  had  no  part  in  the  regeneration  of  the 
British  nation  at  this  time.  The  Presbyterians 
in  Scotland  and  the  north  of  Ireland,  Howell 
Harris  and  others  among  the  Welsh,  together 
with  a  noble  company  of  the  regular  clergy  in 
the  Church  of  England,  rendered  notable  serv- 
ice, and  contributed  much  to  the  national  re- 
vival upon  which  the  welfare  of  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on peoples  and  the  future  history  of  the  world, 
and  especially  the  destiny  of  America,  now 
turned.  But  the  Wesleyan  revival  so  over- 
shadowed all  other  similar  movements  of  the 
period,  and  contributed  so  immediately  to  their 
birth  and  growth,  that  for  the  purposes  of  this 
treatise  all  of  them  may  bo  discussed  as  one, 
under  the  general  name  of  the  "Wesleyan  Ee- 
vival."  The  term  is  used  to  mark  a  religious 
movement  of  national  proportions  and  multi- 


Doubt,  Deism,  and  Darkness.  109 

form  phases,  rather  than  to  glorify  the  deeds  of 
any  particular  party. 

The  British  nation  was  saved  from  destruction 
by  this  national  revival,  and  its  colonial  depend- 
encies shared  in  the  same  salvation,  reaping 
benefits  in  the  end  which  were  even  greater 
than  those  which  accrued  to  the  mother  country. 

We  have  seen  how  national  greatness  and 
strength  depend  on  religious  faith  and  life. 
These  firmest  supports  of  civil  government  and 
national  prosperity  had  fallen  into  decay 
throughout  the  British  dominions  when  the 
Wesleyan  revival  began.  English  deism  and 
French  infidelity  had  destroyed  the  faith  and 
corrupted  the  morals  of  the  upper  classes,  and 
the  lower  orders  of  society  were  sodden  in  vice 
and  ignorance.  The  ministry  in  both  the  Es- 
tablished and  the  Dissenting  bodies  were  lax  in 
doctrine,  remiss  in  their  duties,  and  irregular 
in  their  lives.  There  was  such  a  prostration  of 
the  vital  energies  of  the  nation  as  invited  dan- 
gers from  without  and  engendered  disorders 
within. 

Bishop  Gibson,  in  a  pastoral  letter  issued  in 
1728,  said :  "They  who  live  in  these  great  cities 
[London  and  Westminster],  or  have  had  fre- 
quent recourse  to  them,  and  have  had  any  con- 


110  Bishops  Gibson  and  Seclcer, 

cern  for  religion,  must  have  observed,  to  their 
grief,  that  profaneness  and  impiety  are  grown 
bold  and  open;  that  a  new  sort  of  vice  of  a  very- 
horrible  nature,  and  almost  unknown  before  in 
these  parts  of  the  world,  was  springing  up  and 
gaining  ground  among  us,  if  it  had  not  been 
checked  by  the  seasonable  care  of  the  civil  ad- 
ministration; that  in  some  late  writings  public 
stews  have  been  openly  vindicated  and  public 
vices  recommended  to  the  protection  of  the  gov- 
ernment as  public  benefits;  that  great  pains 
have  been  taken  to  make  men  easy  in  their 
vices,  and  deliver  them  from  the  restraints  of 
conscience  by  undermining  all  religion  and 
promoting  atheism  and  infidelity." 

Archbishop  Seeker  declared  in  1738  (ten  years 
after  the  foregoing  deliverance  of  Bishop  Gib- 
son) that  "an  open  and  professed  disregard  to 
religion  is  become,  through  a  variety  of  unhappy 
causes,  the  distinguishing  character  of  the  pres- 
ent age;  this  evil  has  grown  to  a  great  height  in 
the  metropolis  of  the  nation;  is  daily  spreading 
through  every  part  of  it;  and,  bad  in  itself  as 
can  be,  must  of  necessity  bring  in  all  others 
after  it.  Indeed,  it  hath  already  brought  in 
such  dissoluteness  and  contempt  of  principle  in 
the  higher  part  of  the  world,  and  such  profligate 


Blackstone  and  Rijle.  Ill 

intemperance  and  fearlessness  of  committing 
crimes  in  the  lower,  as  must,  if  this  torrent  of 
impiety  stop  not,  become  absolutely  fatal." 

The  celebrated  Blackstone  had  the  curiosity 
to  go  from  church  to  church  and  hear  every 
notable  clergyman  in  London,  and  he  reported 
that  he  did  not  hear  a  single  discourse  which 
had  more  Christianity  in  it  than  the  writings  of 
Cicero,  and  that  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  him  to  discover  from  what  he  heard  whether 
the  preacher  were  a  follower  of  Confucius,  of 
Mahomet,  or  of  Christ. 

Bishop  Ryle,  of  Liverpool,  says:  "From  the 
year  1700  till  about  the  era  of  the  French  Kev- 
olution,  England  seemed  barren  of  all  that  is 
really  good.  How  such  a  thing  could  have 
arisen  in  a  land  of  free  Bibles  and  professing 
Protestantism  is  almost  past  comprehension. 
Christianity  seemed  to  lie  as  one  dead,  insomuch 
that  you  might  have  said:  'She  is  dead.'  Mo- 
rality, however  much  exalted  in  the  pulpits,  was 
thoroughly  trampled  under  foot  in  the  streets. 
There  was  darkness  in  high  places  and  darkness 
in  low  places—  darkness  in  the  court,  the  camp, 
the  Parliament,  and  the  bar— darkness  in  coun- 
try and  darkness  in  town— darkness  among  rich 
and  darkness  among  poor— a  gross,  thick  re- 


112        The  Life  of  the  Nation  Threatened, 

ligious  and  moral  darkness — a  darkness  that 
might  be  felt. " 

Isaac  Taylor  affirms  that  "the  people  of  En- 
gland had  lapsed  into  heathenism,  or  a  state 
scarcely  tO  be  distinguished  from  it,  when  Wes- 
ley appeared." 

It  is  incredible  that  all  these  contemporary 
witnesses  and  later  students  of  that  period  in 
British  history  have  conspired  to  paint  the  pic- 
ture in  darker  colors  than  "the  facts  justify;  and 
if  half  they  say  is  true,  the  life  of  the  nation 
was  threatened  by  the  conditions  which  they 
portray.  And  it  was  thus  menaced  from  within 
when  its  foreign  perils  were  greatest. 

Amid  such  conditions  the  ministry  and  meth- 
ods of  Horace  Walpole  were  most  natural  and 
inevitable.  All  the  briberies  and  nameless  cor- 
ruptions of  that  ministry,  its  political  cynicism 
and  sneering  unbelief  in  all  high  sentiments, 
were  the  exact  exponents  of  the  moral  life  of 
the  nation  which  called  it  into  power  and  re- 
tained it  so  long  in  office.  Had  such  a  ministry 
continued  to  rule  in  England,  the  contest  with 
France  would  certainly  have  resulted  very  dif- 
ferently, and  it  is  equally  certain  that  AYal- 
pole's  party  would  have  continued  in  place  if 
the  masses  of  the  people  had  not  been  elevateci 


The  Bevival  Begun.  113 

and  inspired  by  the-  national  revival.  The  ap- 
peals of  Pitt  would  have  fallen  unheeded  upon 
the  ears  of  such  a  constituency  as  f  ollov^ed  Wal- 
pole,  and  his  achievements  during  the  period  of 
the  Seven  Years'  War  v^ould  have  been  impos- 
sible at  such  a  time  as  Bishop  Ryle  describes, 
"The  Great  Commoner"  was  made  possible  by 
the  redemption  of  the  great  common  people. 
John  Richard  Green,  in  his  "History  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,"  truly  remarks:  "Rant  about  min- 
isterial corruption  would  have  fallen  flat  on  the 
public  ear  had  not  new  moral  forces,  a  new 
sense  of  social  virtue,  a  new  sense  of  religion, 
been  stirring,  however  blindly,  in  the  minds  of 
Englishmen." 

After  reciting  the  details  of  moral  decay  and 
political  corruption  which  marked  the  closing 
years  of  Walpole's  ministry,  the  philosophic 
historian  just  mentioned  tells  how  the  new  and 
better  era  dawned  on  this  wise;  "In  spite,  how- 
ever, of  scenes  such  as  this,  England  remained 
at  heart  religious.  In  the  middle  class  the  old 
Puritan  spirit  lived  on  unchanged,  and  it  was 
from  this  class  that  a  religious  revival  burst 
forth  at  the  close  of  Walpole's  administration, 
which  changed  after  a  time  the  whole  tone  of 
English  society.  The  Church  wds  restored  to 
8 


114  *'  The  Neiv  Apostles:' 

life  and  activity.  Religion  carried  to  the  hearts 
of  the  people  a  fresh  spirit  of  moral  zeal,  while 
it  purified  our  literature  and  our  manners.  A 
new  philanthropy  reformed  our  prisons,  infused 
clemency  and  wisdom  into  our  penal  laws,  abol- 
ished the  slave  trade,  and  gave  the  first  impulse 
to  popular  education.  The  revival  began  in  a 
small  knot  of  Oxford  students,  whose  revolt 
against  the  religious  deadness  of  their  times 
showed  itself  in  ascetic  observances,  an  enthu- 
siastic devotion,  and  a  methodical  regularity  of 
life  which  gained  them  the  nickname  of  '  Meth- 
odists.' Three  figures  detached  themselves  from 
the  group  as  soon  as,  on  its  transfer  to  London 
in  1738,  it  attracted  public  attention  by  the  fer- 
vor and  even  extravagance  of  its  piety;  and 
each  found  his  special  work  in  the  task  to  which 
the  instinct  of  the  new  movement  led  it  from 
the  first,  that  of  carrying  religion  and  morality 
to  the  vast  masses  of  population  which  lay  con- 
centrated in  the  towns,  or  around  the  mines  and 
collieries  of  Cornwall  and  the  North.  White- 
field,  a  servitor  of  Pembroke  College,  was,  above 
all,  the  preacher  of  the  revival.  Speech  was 
governing  English  politics;  and  the  religious 
power  of  speech  w^as  shown  when  a  dread  of 
'  enthusiasm '  closed  against  the  new  apostles  the 


"The  Embodiment:'  115 

pulpits  of  the  Established  Church,  aud  forced 
them  to  preach  in  the  fields.  Their  voice  was 
soon  heard  in  the  wildest  and  most  barbarous 
corners  of  the  land,  among  the  bleak  moors  of 
Northumberland,  or  in  the  dens  of  London,  or 
in  the  long  galleries  where  in  the  pauses  of  his 
labor  the  Cornish  miner  listens  to  the  sobbino^ 
of  the  sea.  .  .  .  All  the  phenomena  of  strong 
spiritual  excitement,  so  familiar  now,  but  at 
that  time  strange  and  unknown,  followed  on 
their  sermons;  aud  the  terrible  sense  of  a  con- 
viction of  sin,  a  new  dread  of  hell,  a  new  hope 
of  heaven,  took  forms  at  once  grotesque  aud 
sublime.  Charles  Wesley,  a  Christ  Church  stu- 
dent, came  to  add  sweetness  to  this  sudden  and 
startling  light.  He  was  the  sweet  singer  of  the 
movement.  His  hymns  expressed  the  fiery* con- 
viction of  its  converts  in  lines  so  chaste  and 
beautiful  that  its  more  extravagant  features  dis- 
appeared.  The  wild  throes  of  hysteric  enthusi- 
asm passed  into  a  passion  for  hymn-singing,  and 
a  new  musical  impulse  was  aroused  in  the  peo- 
ple which  gradually  changed  the  face  of  public 
devotion  throughout  England.  But  it  was  his 
elder  brother,  John  Wesley,  who  embodied  in 
himself  not  this  or  that  side  of  the  new  move- 
ment,  but  the  movement  itself.     ...     In 


116  John  Wesley, 

power  as  a  preacher  he  stood  next  to  White- 
field;  as  a  hymn  writer  he  stood  second  to  his 
brother  Charles.  But  while  combining  in  some 
degree  the  excellence  of  either,  he  possessed 
qualities  in  which  both  were  utterly  deficient: 
an  indefatigable  industry,  a  cool  judgment,  a 
command  over  others,  a  faculty  of  organization, 
a  singular  union  of  patience  and  moderation  with 
an  imperious  ambition,  which  marked  him  as  a 
ruler  of  men.  He  had,  besides,  a  learning  and 
skill  in  writing  which  no  other  of  the  Metho- 
dists possessed;  he  was  older  than  any  of  his  col- 
leagues at  the  start  of  the  movement,  and  he  out- 
lived them  all.  His  life,  indeed,  almost  covers 
the  century,  and  the  Methodist  body  had  passed 
through  every  phase  of  its  history  before  he 
sank  into  the  grave  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight. 
His  powers  were  bent  to  the  building  up  of  a 
great  religious  society  which  might  give  to  the 
new  enthusiasm  a  lasting  and  practical  form. 
The  Methodists  were  grouped  into  classes,  gath- 
ered at  love  feasts,  purified  by  the  expulsion  of 
unworthy  members,  and  furnished  with  an  al- 
ternation of  settled  ministers  and  wandering 
preachers;  while  the  whole  body  was  placed  un- 
der the  absolute  government  of  a  Conference  of 
ministers.     But  so  long  as  he  lived,  the  direction 


Testimonij  of  Dr,  W,  H.  FHchetU         117 

of  the  new  religious  society  remained  with  Wes- 
ley alone.  'If  by  arbitrary  power,'  he  replied 
with  a  charming  simplicity  to  objectors,  'you- 
mean  a  power  which  I  exercise  without  any  col- 
league therein,  this  is  certainly  true,  but  I  see  no 
hurt  in  it. '  The  great  body  which  he  thus  found- 
ed numbered  a  hundred  thousand  members  at  his 
death,  and  now  counts  its  members  in  England 
and  America  by  millions." 

No  apology  is  necessary  for  the  length  of  this 
quotation  from  the  able  treatise  of  this  scholar- 
ly and  impartial  historian.  His  vivid  presenta- 
tion of  the  matter,  the  writer  of  these  pages  can- 
not hope  to  excel,  and  the  estimate  thus  placed 
upon  the  Wesleyan  revival  by  a  priest  of  the 
Church  of  England  will  be  exempt  from  all 
suspicion  of  bias  or  exaggeration. 

But  if  any  persist  in  considering  this  estimate 
extravagant,  let  them  hear  what  Dr.  W.  H.Fitch- 
ett  has  to  say  upon  the  same  subject  in  his  in- 
teresting treatise  entitled  "How  England  Saved 
Europe."  He  says:  "Great  Britain  was  invigo- 
rated by  the  great  religious  movement  of  which 
Wesley  and  Whitefield  were  the  leaders.  That 
movement  was  practically  a  new  birth  of  Puri- 
tanism, spiritualized  and  ennobled,  purged  of 
its  gloom,  of  its  fierce  political  leaven,  of  its 


118  "Healthful  Salt:' 

narrowness.  It  is  not  easy  to  realize  how  it 
might  have  affected  English  history,  if  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  with  its 
drowsy  Church,  its  enervated  morals,  its  laxity 
of  public  life,  there  had  arisen,  instead  of  a  re- 
former like  Wesley,  an  English  Voltaire,  dis- 
tilling the  gall  of  his  skepticism,  the  acid  of  his 
bitter  wit  into  the  life  of  England.  In  that  case 
the  reign  of  terror  in  Paris  might  have  been  ri- 
valed by  one  as'  fierce  and  bloody  in  London. 
Wesley,  to  the  zeal  of  an  apostle  and  the  spirit- 
ual ardor  of  a  saint,  added  the  patriotism  of  an 
Englishman,  and  something  at  least  of  the  intel- 
lectual vision  of  a  statesman.  And  he  did  some- 
thing more  than  crystallize  into  happy  and  en- 
during form  the  great  religious  body  that  bears 
his  name.  He  affected  for  good  the  whole  tone 
of  English  society.  The  religious  revival  of  that 
period  had  the  office  of  the  healthful  salt  in  the 
national  blood.  It  purified  domestic  life.  It  wove 
bonds  of  quick  and  generous  sympathy  betwixt 
all  classes.  It  put  a  more  robust  fiber  into  the 
national  character.  It  gave  a  new  tenderness  to 
charity,  a  nobler  daring  to  philanthropy,  a  loft- 
ier authority  to  morals,  as  w^ell  as  a  new  grace 
to  religion.  So  it  helped  to  cleanse  the  nation- 
al life.     Among  the  elements  of  strength  to 


Shaping  the  Future,  119 

Great  Britain  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle 
with  revolutionary  France  is  surely  to  be  reck- 
oned the  invigoration  bred  of  a  revived  faith  in 
religion." 

If  the  thesis  that  "England  Saved  Europe" 
be  sound,  and  if  among  the  elements  of  strength 
which  enabled  Great  Britain  to  accomplish  so 
great  a  salvation  must  be  reckoned  the  revival, 
the  importance  of  the  Wesleyan  movement  is 
not  overstated  when  it  is  affirmed  that  it  con- 
tributed to  the  fixing  of  the  geographical  bound- 
aries of  the  British  Colonies  in  America,  and 
thus  helped  to  shape  in  the  most  influential  way 
the  future  of  the  United  States. 

While  the  field  of  its  operations  was  across  the 
sea,  it  really  affected  the  American  Colonies  in 
its  ultimate  effects  more  than  did  its  coetaneous 
movement,  the  great  awakening,  on  this  side 
the  water.  It  differed  greatly  from  that 
movement  under  Edwards,  the  Tennents,  and 
Whitefield,  and  by  reason  of  those  differences 
it  blessed  the  American  Republic,  at  its  birth  and 
during  the  formative  period  of  its  history  as  an 
independent  nation,  as  it  could  not  have  done 
otherwise.  This  will  appear  upon  consideration 
of  the  points  of  difference  between  the  two  re- 
vival movements,  and  such  consideration  will 


120  An  Arminian  Movement 

also  serve  to  set  before  iis  more  distinctly  the  ef- 
fect of  the  Wesley  an  revival  on  the  origin  and 
development  of  the  Great  Republic. 

First,  let  it  be  observed  that  they  differed  in 
their  doctrinal  basis.  The  great  awakening 
was  born  in  Calvinistic  Churches  and  was  carried 
on  by  Calvinistic  preachers.  The  Wesleyan  re- 
vival, while  embracing  in  its  sweep  many  Cal- 
vinistic influences  and  individuals,  was  over- 
whelmingly Arminian.  This  was  fortunate  for 
England  at  such  a  time,  and  therefore  best  for 
America  in  the  end.  An  all-embracing  gospel 
chased  away  despair  from  the  hopeless  lower 
classes,  and  emphasized  the  equality  of  every 
man  before  God.  Only  such  a  gospel  could  have 
lifted  the  masses  of  Britain's  common  people  to 
the  level  of  life  and  hope  needed  for  the  critical 
period  through  which  the  nation  was  passing. 
To  the  freedom  and  fullness  of  an  Arminian 
creed  was  added  an  emphasis  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit  and  Christian  assur- 
ance such  as  was  never  heard  in  England  before, 
nor  found  so  clearly  and  fully  set  forth  in  the 
sermons  of  Whitefield,  Edwards,  and  the  Ten- 
nents  even.  This  also,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
truth  involved,  inevitably  gave  a  wholesome  im- 
pulse to  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  was  then  ris- 


'*  The  Perfect  GospeV  121 

ing  in  the  nation.  Ever  since  the  'Wesleyan  re- 
vival there  has  been  a  steady  and  remarkable 
rise  in  the  appraisement  put  on  the  value  of 
a  man  as  a  man  throughout  the  English-speak- 
ing world,  and  this  rising  valuation  has  been 
made  without  serious  shock  to  the  social  system. 
The  prevalence  of  the  doctrines  of  experimental 
religion  has  thus  fed  the  spirit  of  freedom  with- 
out firing  the  heart  of  fanaticism.  One  who 
knows  by  the  assurance  of  the  witnessing  Spirit 
that  he  is  born  of  God  knows  he  must  be  free, 
and  yet  he  asserts  his  freedom  with  the  self- 
respecting  meekness  of  faith,  and  not  with  the 
fiery  vindictiveness  of  wounded  pride.  To  these 
doctrines  of  evangelical  faith  as  held  by  his  evan- 
gelistic contemporaries,  Wesley  added  the  doc- 
trine of  Christian  perfection— a  ''glorious  hope" 
that  stirred  the  noblest  aspirations  of  the  human 
breast.  He  brought  to  the  English  nation  the 
perfect  gospel  for  the  "unprivileged."  There 
was  no  room  for  the  intervention  of  a  priestly 
caste  in  a  system  that  emphasized  justification 
by  faith,  the  new  birth,  and  the  witness  of  the 
Spirit.  There  was  no  place  for  even  privileged 
evangelicals  when  an  unconditional  election  was 
denied.  And  there  was  no  occasion  for  the 
most  forlorn  soul  to  despair  when  the  way  of 


122  Salvation  Full  and  Free, 

the  highest  holiness  was  thrown  wide  open  to 
every  one.  Wesley  might  have  justly  defined 
his  commission  to  his  people  in  the  language  of 
Paul  to  the  Colossians:  "Whereof  1  am  made 
a  minister,  according  to  the  dispensation  of  God 
which  is  given  to  me  for  you,  to  fulfill  the  word 
of  God;  even  the  mystery  which  hath  been  hid 
from  ages  and  from  generations,  but  now  is 
made  manifest  to  his  saints:  to  whom  God  would 
make  known  what  is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of 
this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles;  which  is 
Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory:  whom  we 
preach,  warning  every  man  and  teaching  every 
man  in  all  wisdom;  that  we  may  present  every 
msin 2?e?ifect  in  Christ  Jesus."  This  is  the  full- 
ness of  the  gospel,  which  leaves  nothing  of  grace 
inexperienced,  and  which  in  the  depths  of  its 
earthly  experience  discovers  foretastes  of  heav- 
enly glory.  It  was  the  gospel  exactly  suited  to 
the  needs  of  Great  Britain  and  America  then, 
and  it  is  the  gospel  which  is  ample  for  the 
world's  want  for  all  time.  It  cannot  be  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  a  dogma,  for  it  leaves 
nothing  to  be  desired  when  it  throws  open  the 
gates  of  life  to  every  soul,  and  promises  the 
fullness  of  life  to  all  who  will  enter.  From 
it  nothinof  can  be  subtracted  without  diminish- 


New  Life  and  New  Songs.  123 

ing  the  common  salvation  and  dimming  some 
dear  hope  of  mankind.  Wesley,  not  Whitelield, 
was  the  leader  for  such  a  movement.  White- 
field  and  the  Calvinistic  evangelicals  did  much 
to  help  it  on,  but  they  could  not  direct  it  with- 
out marring  it.  Wesley,  as  Green  truly  sa3^s, 
was  its  very  "embodiment.'' 

A  second  point  of  difference  between  the  W^s- 
leyan  revival  and  the  great  awakening  arose  from 
the  first.  The  Wesleyan  doctrines  required  new 
songs  for  their  expression,  and  the  joyous  Chris- 
tian expe^'ience  to  which  they  gave  rise  outran 
the  sad  psalmody  of  the  former  days.  The 
great  awakening  demanded  no  such  expres- 
sion and  brought  forth  no  hymns,  while  the  Wes- 
leyan revival  came  with  a  burst  of  song  such  as 
had  not  been  heard  for  ages.  In  this  particular 
it  marked  a  new  era  in  Christian  history.  Hence- 
forth a  new  type  of  music  prevails  in  the  evan- 
gelical '  Churches.  Robert  Southey,  the  poet 
laureate,  said  of  the  Wesleyan  hymns:  "No 
poems  have  been  so  treasured  in  the  memory,  or 
so  frequently  quoted  on  a  deathbed."  James 
Martineau,  the  great  Unitarian  divine,  said: 
"After  the  Scriptures,  the  Wesleyan  Hymn 
Book  appears  to  me  the  greatest  instrument  of 
popular  religious  culture  that  Christendom  has 


124        Hijmns  of  Watts  and  the  Wesleys, 

ever  produced. "  Handel  found  in  the  Wesleyan 
hymns  poetry  worthy  of  his  own  lofty  genius, 
and  he  set  to  music  those  beginning,  "  Sinners, 
obey  the  gospel  word!"  "O  Love  divine,  how 
sweet  thou  art  I"  and  "Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King." 
The  great  composer  Giardini  also  supplied  tunes 
for  some  of  them.  Such  hymns  could  spring 
from  no  doctrines  or  experiences  less  compre- 
hensive and  fervent  than  the  Wesleyan  faith. 
The  biographer  of  Watts  acknowledges  "the 
faulty  versification  and  inelegant  construction  of 
some  of  his  hymns,  which  have  been  pointed  out 
as  their  principal  defects;"  and  adds,  "They 
would  have  never  occurred  had  they  been  writ- 
ten under  the  same  circumstances  as  those  of  his 
Arminian  successor." 

The  revival  made  the  hymns,  and  the  hymns 
in  turn  deepened" and  widened  the  revival.  Nor 
could  the  masses  of  the  people  have  been  reached 
and  saved  otherwise.  If  the  writing  of  a  na- 
tion's songs  outranks  in  influence  the  making 
of  its  laws,  it  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  ef- 
fect of  the  Wesleyan  hymns  on  the  life  of  the 
British  nation  at  t^is  time. 

The  music  of  the  evangelical  Churches  hence- 
forth passed  out  of  the  hands  of  privileged  and 
pretentious  classes  called  choirs,  and  all  the  peo- 


A  New  Church,  125 

pie  fell  to  singing  with  rapturous  melodies  the 
praise  of  God.  Priestcraft  and  choral  monopo- 
lies belong  to  the  same  order  of  things,  and  the 
farther  Christianity  gets  away  from  both,  the 
farther  it  is  from  paganism,  and  the  closer  it  is 
to  the  common  people  and  to  the  favor  of  Him 
whom  the  ''common  people  heard  gladly."  It 
was  a  great  day  for  the  religion  of  the  masses 
and  the  salvation  of  the  world  when  the  Wes- 
leys  set  the  Anglo-Saxon  nations  to  singing  the 
gospel  of  a  full  salvation. 

In  the  third  place,  the  great  awakening 
produced  no  new  organization.  It  was  best  that 
it  should  not  have  done  so.  But  it  was  not  so 
with  the  Wesleyan  revival.  It  seems  to  be  a 
strange  thing  that  Wesley,  who  never  was  in 
America,  except  for  a  brief  space  before  the 
great  revival  began,  should  have  organized  an 
American  Church,  which  continues  to  this  day; 
while  White  held,  who  spent  so  much  time  and 
toil  in  the  New  World,  should  have  left  no  or- 
ganized following  in  it.  The  great  evangelist 
seems  to  have  felt  it  keenly.  In  one  place  he 
says:  ''My  brother  Wesley  acted  Avisely.  The 
souls  that  were  awakened  under  his  ministry, 
he  joined  in  a  class,  and  thus  preserved  the  fruits 
of  his  labor.     This  I  neglected,  and  my  people 


126  New  Wine  and  a  New  Bottle. 

are  as  a  rope  of  sand."  But  the  explanation  of 
the  case  lies  deeper  than  Wesley's  organization 
and  Whitefield's  neglect  to  organize.  Such  things 
rest  on  deeper  reasons  than  the  foresight  of  one 
man  and  the  blundering  of  another.  They  arise 
naturally  under  the  operation  of  profound  spirit- 
ual laws  of  demand  and  supply.  Whitefield's  Cal- 
vinistic  converts  could  find  comfortable  Church 
homes  in  any  of  several  communions,  but  there 
was  no  place  for  Wesley's  Arminians  that  was 
perfectly  suited  to  their  needs.  The  law  of  life 
is  ''to  every  seed  its  own  body,"  and  Wesley 
himself  was  not  able  to  forestall  the  operation 
of  this  law,  and  thereby  prevent  his  followers 
from  leaving  the  Established  Church,  which  was 
indeed  the  friendliest  home  for  them,  and  yet 
not  friendly  enough.  While  he  lived,  he  was 
able  to  postpone  separation  in  England,  although 
he  provided  for  the  organization  of  a  new  Church 
in  America  and  ordained  men  to  administer  the 
sacraments  in  Scotland.  At  last  the  societies  in 
England  separated  also— a  result  which  was  in- 
evitable by  the  very  nature  of  the  life  within 
them.  The  new  wine  could  not  be  long  kept  in 
the  old  bottles. 

Lastly,  the  Wesleyan  revival  continued  lon- 
ger, and  its  visible  influence  has  been  far  more 


A  Neiv  Type.  127 

enduring,  than  the  great  awakening.  After 
about  1750,  the  great  awakening  went  on 
with  a  greatly  diminished  current;  but  the  Wes- 
leyan  revival  continued,  with  scarcely  an  inter- 
ruption or  subtraction  from  its  power,  for  above 
fifty  years,  and  in  some  sense  it  may  be  claimed 
with  justice  that  it  is  still  going  on.  Martin 
Luther  said  that  for  sixteen  hundred  years  the 
longest  revival  lasted  only  through  a  single  gen- 
eration, but  the  Wesleyan  revival  has  never 
ceased.  It  has  done  much  to  create  an  evangel- 
istic type  of  Christian  effort  that  has  at  length 
become  the  dominant  type  among  the  Churches 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples,  and  by  which  there 
have  been  almost  continuous  revivals  in  these 
lands  for  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Its 
effect  has  also  been  to  shorten  the  intervals  be- 
tween those  great  general  movements  of  revival 
power  which  have  from  the  first  marked  the 
history  of  Christianity. 

These  consequences  of  the  Wesleyan  revival 
are  attri])utable  in  part  to  the  long  life  and  ac- 
tivity of  John  Wesle}^,  the  'embodiment"  and 
incarnation  of  the  spirit  of  the  movement.  His 
wisdom  and  foresight  preserved  its  character  and 
directed  its  course  under  Divine  Providence  un- 
til March,  1791,  when  he  fell  on  sleep,  whis- 


128  Changing  Anglo-Saxon  History, 

pering:  "The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us."  But 
more  than  to  the  length  of  his  life,  the  power 
and  persistence  of  the  revival  were  due  to  the 
doctrines  preached,  the  songs  sung,  and  the 
organization  which  he  fashioned  and  operated 
with  such  skill.  In  these  things  was  found  the 
stored  force  which  revolutionized  the  British 
nation,  passed  over  the  seas,  penetrated  the 
American  Colonies,  and  changed  the  current  of 
Anglo-Saxon  history.  With  the  rapidity  of  a 
revolution  and  the  renovating  power  of  a  celes- 
tial springtime,  it  passed  over  the  United  King- 
dom and  its  dependencies.  Wesley  himself  was 
amazed  at  the  magnitude  of  the  work.  When 
his  followers  numbered  no  more  than  30,000 
souls  he  sang: 

"  O  the  fathomless  love  that  hath  deigned  to  approve 
And  prosper  the  work  of  my  hands! 
With  my  pastoral  crook  I  went  over  the  brook, 
And,  behold,  I  am  spread  into  bands. 

Who,  I  ask  in  amaze,  hath  gotten  me  these? 

And  inquire  from  what  quarter  they  came; 
My  full  heart  replies,  'They  are  born  from  the  skies,' 

And  gives  glory  to  God  and  the  Lamb."" 

In  the  moderation  of  carefully  considered 
prose  he  wrote  later:  "The  revival  of  religion 
has  spread  to  such  a  degree  as  neither  we  nor 
our  fathers  had  known.     How  extensive  has  it 


Extent f  Speed,  and  Depth  of  the  WorJi.    129 

been!  There  is  scarce  a  considerable  town  in 
the  kingdom  where  some  have  not  been  made 
witnesses  of  it.  It  has  spread  to  every  age  and 
sex,  to  most  orders  and  degrees  of  men;  and 
even  to  abundance  of  those  who,  in  time  past, 
were  accounted  monsters  of  wickedness.  Con- 
sider the  sioiftness  as  well  as  the  extent  of  it. 
In  what  age  has  such  a  number  of  sinners  been 
recovered,  in  so  short  a  time,  from  the  error  of 
their  ways?  When  has  true  religion,  I  will  not 
say  since  the  Reformation,  but  since  the  time  of 
Constantine  the  Great,  made  so  large  a  progress 
in  any  nation,  within  so  small  a  space?  I  be- 
lieve hardly  can  ancient  or  modern  history  af- 
ford a  parallel  instance.  We  may  likewise  ob- 
serve the  depth  of  the  work  so  extensively  and 
swiftly  wrought.  Multitudes  have  been  thor- 
oughly convinced  of  sin;  and  shortly  after,  so 
filled  with  joy  and  love,  that  whether  they  were 
in  the  body,  or  out  of  the  body,  they  could 
hardly  tell;  and  in  the  power  of  this  love  they 
have  trampled  under  foot  whatever  the  world  ac- 
counts either  terrible  or  desirable,  having  evi- 
denced in  the  severest  trials  an  invariable  and 
tender  good  will  to  mankind  and  all  the  fruits 
of  holiness.  Now  so  deep  a  repentance,  so 
strong  a  faith,  so  fervent  a  love,  so  unblemished 
9 


130        The  M^fJwdists  at  Wesley's  Death, 

holiness  wrought  in  so  many  persons  in  so  short 
a  time  the  world  has  not  seen  for  ages."  Hav- 
ing thus  described  the  work,  he  proceeds  in  the 
same  passage  to  vindicate  it  (and  he  does  it 
with  complete  success)  against  any  possible 
charges  of  impurity  in  doctrine,  superstition, 
irrational  enthusiasm,  bigotry,  or  bitter  zeal. 

When  he  died  his  followers  who  were  en- 
rolled in  the  Wesleyan  organization  numbered 
in  England  seventy-one  thousand,  and  in  Amer- 
ica forty-eight  thousand.  And  be  it  remem- 
bered that  the  entire  population  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic  did  not  exceed  fifteen  million 
souls.  The  growth  of  the  Wesleyan  body  had 
been  gathered  from  a  comparatively  sparse  pop- 
ulation, and  during  a  period  when  the  nation 
was  almost  continuously  engaged  in  war.  But 
the  Wesleyan  organization  did  not  hold  all  the 
fruits  nor  measure  all  the  power  of  the  Wesley- 
an revival.  As  John  Richard  Green  forcibly 
says:  "The  Methodists  themselves  w^ere  the 
least  result  of  the  Methodist  revival."  He  ex- 
plains and  amplifies  his  statement  as  follows: 
"Its  action  upon  the  Church  broke  the  lethargy 
of  the  clergy;  and  the  *  Evangelical'  movement, 
which  found  representatives  like  Newton  and 
Cecil   within  the  pale  of  the  Establishment, 


Fruits  of  the  Re  v  i  va  L  13 1 

made  the  fox-hunting  parson  and  the  absentee 
rector  at  last  impossible.  In  Walpole's  day  the 
Eno^lish  clergy  were  the  idlest  and  most  lifeless 
in  the  world.  In  our  own  time  no  body  of  reli- 
gious ministers  surpasses  them  in  piety,  in  phil- 
anthropic energy,  or  in  popular  regard.  In  the 
nation  at  large  appeared  a  new  moral  enthusiasm 
which,  rigid  and  pedantic  as  it  often  seemed, 
was  still  healthy  in  its  social  tone,  and  whose 
power  was  seen  in  the  disappearance  of  the 
profligacy  which  had  disgraced  the  upper  classes, 
and  the  foulness  which  had  infested  literature, 
ever  since  the  Restoration.  A  yet  nobler  re- 
sult of  the  religious  revival  was  the  steady  at- 
tempt, which  has  never  ceased  from  that  day  to 
this,  to  remedy  the  guilt,  the  ignorance,  the 
physical  suffering,  the  social  degradation  of  the 
profligate  and  the  poor.  It  was  not  till  the 
Wesleyan  impulse  had  done  its  w^ork  that  this 
philanthropic  impulse  began." 

It  affected  all  classes  from  highest  to  lowest, 
the  rich  and  poor,  the  learned  and  the  unlet- 
tered, the  old  and  the  young.  While  reaching 
the  peasant  at  the  plow  and  the  miner  in  the 
cave,  it  made  converts  of  such  titled  people  as 
Lady  Huntingdon,  Lady  Mary  Hastings,  and 
Lord  Dartmouth.     Even  Chesterfield  and  Bol- 


132  All  Classes  Affected, 

ingbroke  were  among  the  hearers  of  the  re- 
vivalists. It  extended  its  influence  to  the  liter- 
ary classes,  saving  some  and  affecting  many 
whom  it  could  not  save.  Cowper,  the  gi'eatest 
English  poet  of  the  closing  years  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  devoted  his  gentle  spirit  and 
graceful  style  to  its  service.  Robert  Southey, 
who  was  born  while  the  revival  was  at  its 
height,  who  was  influenced  in  his  childhood  by 
Wesley,  and  who  knew  well  the  power  of  the 
movement  among  men  of  letters,  declared  a 
generation  later:  "I  consider  Wesley  the  most 
influential  mind  of  the  last  century — the  man 
who  will  have  produced  the  greatest  effect  cen- 
turies or  perhaps  millenniums  hence,  if  the  pres- 
ent race  of  men  should  continue  so  long." 
With  this  estimate  of  Wesley  by  Southey  agrees 
the  thoughtful  essayist,  Birrell,  w^ho  affirms: 
''Wesley  was  himself  the  greatest  force  of  the 
eighteenth  century  in  England.  No  man  lived 
nearer  the  center  than  John  Wesley;  neither 
Pitt  nor  Clive,  neither  Mansfield  nor  Johnson. 
No  single  figure  influenced  so  many  minds;  no 
single  voice  touched  so  many  hearts;  no  other 
man  did  such  a  life  work  for  England." 

Of  course  the  widest  and  deepest  influence  of 
the  Wesleyan  revival   was   exerted   upon  the 


Effect  on  the  "Army,  . .         135 

middle  and  lower  classes  of  the  nation — the 
classes  who  iu  all  lands  and  in  all  times  give 
distinctive  character  to  a  nation  and  who 
are  most  accessible  to  spiritual  things.  Among 
these  classes  two  should  have  special  mention, 
because  of  the  influential  part  they  bore  in 
shaping  the  destiny  of  the  nation  just  at  that 
time — viz. ,  the  army,  and  the  miners  and  arti- 
sans. 

No  movement  whatsoever  can  greatly  affect 
for  any  considerable  time  the  ''common  people" 
of  any  country  without  soon  manifesting  itself 
in  the  army,  for  the  common  people  fight  the 
world's  battles.  Such  was  the  case  with  the 
work  of  "Wesley.  The  camp  and  the  field,  it  is 
true,  are  not  favorable  to  devotion  or  piety,  but, 
despite  all  the  hindrances  to  religion  in  military 
life,  the  Wesley  an  revival  quickly  penetrated 
the  army  and  followed  it  to  Flanders  and  to  the 
New  World.  W^hen  the  "  Cape  Breton  Expedi- 
tion" sailed  away  from  Boston  in  1745  to  take 
from  the  French  Louisburg — ''the  key  to  Can- 
ada and  the  Gibraltar  of  America"— it  went  un- 
der the  command  of  Sir  William  Pepper  ell,  one 
of  Whitefield's  converts,  and  on  its  banner  were 
the  words,  "A7Z  desperandum;  Christo  duce  " — a 
motto  given  by  Whitefield  at  the  request  of  the 


134         Among  the  Troops  in  Flanders, 

commander,  to  testify  the  great  evangelist'^  fa- 
vor and  encouragement.  Before  its  embarka- 
tion the  officers  desired  him  to  preach  them  a 
sermon,  which  he  did,  and  when  news  came  of 
the  fall  of  Louisburg  he  preached  in  Boston  a 
thanksgiving  sermon.  Again  in  1755  Sir  Wil- 
liam took  up  arms  for  his  country  against  the 
French,  and  Whitefield  in  a  letter  to  Lady  Pep- 
perell  said  of  him:  ^^He  is  gone  upon  a  good 
cause,  and  under  the  conduct  of  the  best  general, 
even  the  Captain  of  our  salvation."  Thus  into 
the  army  of  America  the  influence  of  the  reviv- 
al through  the  preaching  of  Whitefield  entered. 
And  it  was  an  equally  or  more  active  influence 
among  the  troops  in  Flanders.  John  Haime, 
belonging  to  the  Queen's  Regiment  of  Dragoons, 
having  been  converted  under  the  ministry  of 
the  Wesleys  in  England,  was  stirred  up  to 
preach  to  his  companions  in  arms,  hundreds  of 
whom  were  converted.  The  work  thus  begun 
Avas  so  conspicuous  that  Lecky  has  felt  con- 
strained to  mention  it  in  his  great  work,  en- 
titled, ''The  History  of  England  in  the  Eight- 
eenth Century.*'  He  says:  ''It  [Wesleyanism] 
may  be  first  traced  in  the  army  of  Flanders  in 
174i,  the  year  of  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  when 
a  small  society,  numbering  at  first  three,  then 


Christ  in  the  Camp.  135 

twelve,  and  soon  after  more  than  two  tinndred 
persons,  was  formed  among  the  regiments  at 
Ghent,  and  Wesley  has  published  several  letters 
from  the  soldiers  which  throw  a  novel  and  at- 
tractive light  over  the  campaign.  One  of  the 
soldiers  Vs'as  accustomed  to  preach  in  the  open 
air  near  the  camp  at  Ask.  His  congregation 
often  numbered  more  than  a  thousand;  many  of 
the  officers  attended,  and  he  sometimes  preached 
thirty-five  times  in  seven  days.  The  society 
had  its  stated  hours  of  meeting,  and  commonly 
two  whole  nights  in  every  week  were  passed  in 
devotion;  two  small  tabernacles  were  built  in 
the  camp  near  Brussels,  and  rooms  were  hired 
at  Bruges  and  at  Ghent.  One  of  the  leading 
Methodists  dated  his  conversion  from  the  battle 
of  Dettingen,  when  the  balls  were  raining 
around  him,  and  he  ended  his  career  at  Fonte- 
noy,  where  he  was  seen  by  one  of  his  compan- 
ions laid  across  a  cannon,  both  his  legs  having 
been  taken  ofi'  by  a  chain  shot,  praising  God  and 
exhorting  those  about  him  with  his  last  breath." 
John  Haime  himself  has  left  an  account  of  this 
work  even  more  vivid  and  interesting  than  that 
of  Lecky.  He  says:  ''On  the  1st  of  May,  1745, 
we  had  a  full  trial  of  our  faith  at  Fontenoy. 
Some  days  before,  one  of  our  brethren,  standing 


136  Mightij  in  Battle.  ■ 

in  his  tent  door,  broke  out  into  raptures  of  Joy, 
knowing  bis  departure  was  at  band;  and  wben 
be  went  into  tbe  fiekl  of  battle  declared:  '  I  am 
goins:  to  rest  in  tbe  bosom  of  Jesus.'  Indeed, 
this  day  God  was  pleased  to  prove  our  little 
flock,  and  to  show  them  his  mighty  power. 
They  showed  such  courage  and  boldness  in  the 
fight  as  made  tbe  officers  as  well  as  tbe  soldiers 
amazed.  When  wounded,  some  cried  out,  'I 
am  going  to  my  Beloved;'  others,  'Come, 
Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.'  When  William 
Clements  had  bis  arm  broken  by  a  musket  ball 
they  would  have  carried  him  out  of  tbe  battle, 
but  he  said :  '  No,  I  have  an  arm  left  to  hold  my 
sword;  I  will  not  go  yet.'  When  a  second  shot 
broke  his  other  arm  he  said:  '  1  am  as  happy  as 
1  can  be  out  of  paradise.'  John  Evans,  having 
both  bis  legs  taken  off  by  a  cannon  ball,  was 
laid  across  a  cannon  to  die,  where,  as  long  as  he 
could  speak,  be  was  praising  God  with  joyful 
lips.  For  my  own  part,  1  stood  tbe  hottest  fire 
of  tbe  enemy  for  about  seven  hours.  But  I 
told  my  comrades:  'The  French  have  no  ball 
made  that  will  kill  me  this  day.'-  After  about 
seven  hours  a  cannon  ball  killed  my  horse  un- 
der me.  An  officer  cried  out:  'Haime,  where 
is  your   God  now?'     1  answered:  'Sir,   he  is 


"They  hied  Welir  13V 

here  with  me,  and  he  will  bring  me  out  of  this 
battle.'  As  I  was  quitting  the  field  I  met  one 
of  our  brethren,  with  a  little  dish  in  his  hand, 
seeking  water.  I  did  not  know  him  at  first,  be- 
ing covered  with  blood.  He  smiled  and  said: 
'Brother  Haime,  I  have  got  a  sore  wound.'  I 
asked;  'Have  you  got  Christ  in  your  heart?' 
He  said:  'I  have,  and  I  have  had  him  all  this 
day.  I  have  seen  many  good  and  glorious  days, 
with  much  of  God,  but  I  never  saw  more  of  it 
than  this  day.  Glory  be  to  God  for  all  his  mer- 
cies!' Among  the  dead  there  was  great  plenty 
of  watches  and  gold  and  silver.  One  asked:  '  Will 
you  not  get  something?'  I  answered:  'No;  I 
have  got  Christ,  I  will  have  no  plunder.'" 

It  is  no  wonder  that  officers  and  men  were 
amazed  by  such  exhibitions  of  faith  and  courage. 
It  was  veritably  a  Gideon's  band  fighting  by 
faith.  No  such  soldiers  had  been  seen  since 
Cromwell's  Ironsides.  These  dauntless  spirits 
were  exemplifying  the  saying  of  Wesley:  "The 
world  may  not  like  our  Methodists  and  evangel- 
ical people,  but  the  world  cannot  deny  they  die 
well."  By  valor  invincible  in  death  they  were 
commanding  the  admiration  and  inspiring  the 
courage  of  all  around  them.  Can  any  one  who 
knows  the  value  of  one  such  regiment  in  a  cam- 


138  The  Biding  industrialism, 

paign  depreciate  the  worth  of  these  men  to  the 
whole  army  and  to  the  cause  it  represented? 
Without  such  troops,  would  the  result  have  been 
the  same?  Let  him  affirm  it  who  dares  the  de- 
rision of  all  thoughtful  men. 

But  about  this  time  England  was  threatened 
by  another  peril  more  dangerous  and  menacing 
than  the  armies  of  France.  A  new  era  dawned 
when  Brindley  joined  Manchester  with  Liver- 
pool, in  1767,  by  a  canal.  The  success  of  the 
experiment  led  to  the  rapid  introduction  of  wa- 
ter carriage,  and  Great  Britain  was  speedily 
traversed  in  every  direction  by  three  thousand 
miles  of  navigable  canals.  This  meant  much  in 
an  almost  roadless  land  where  for  lack  of  trans- 
portation people  might  famish  for  bread  in  Lon- 
don, while  a  hundred  miles  away  farmers  hoard- 
ed or  wasted  a  surplus  of  grain  for  which  they 
had  no  accessible  market.  Two  years  before 
Brindley \s  canal,  Watt  had  transformed  the 
steam  engine  from  a  toy  to  a  Titan,  which  in 
the  end  revolutionized  the  industi'ial  world. 
About  the  same  time  a  new  importance  was 
given  to  the  coal  which  underlaid  the  surface  of 
England.  The  immense  stores  of  iron,  which 
in  the  northern  counties  lay  side  by  side  with 
the  coal,   remained   unworked  because  it  was 


The  Power  and  Peril  of  the  HoKr.         139 

thought  that  it  could  be  Biuelted  with  wood 
only,  and  that  fuel  was  all  too  scarce.  Now  was 
discovered  a  process  to  smelt  iron  with  coal, 
and  the  iron  industry  was  changed  as  by  magic. 
This  development  of  coal  and  iron  made  the  in- 
vention of  AYatt  a  thousandfold  more  effective 
in  supplying  the  place  of  manual  labor  in  the 
manufactures-  Then,  in  1764,  came  the  spin- 
ning jenny  of  Hargreaves,  the  weaver,  followed 
quickly  in  1768  by  the  spinning  machine  of 
Arkwright,  the  barber.  In  1776  was  invented 
the  spinning  mule  of  Crompton,  the  weaver, 
and  speedily  after  it  came  the  power  loom.  It 
was  as  if  all  the  hidden  forces  of  nature  had 
flocked  to  the  aid  of  Great  Britain  during  the 
terrible  years  of  her  struggle  with  France,  and 
were  lifting  her  into  the  commanding  position 
of  the  greatest  commercial  power  of  the  world. 
But  the  new  power  brought  a  fearful  peril. 
Great  manufacturing  centers  sprang  instantly 
into  being.  Workingmen  agglomerated  in  the 
towns,  and  labor  became  nomadic  in  habit  and 
irritable  in  temper.  Men  unused  to  the  fever- 
ish excitement  and  the  fearful  temptations  of 
such  a  situation  were  massed  together  where  all 
the  seductions  to  vice  were  multiplied  and  all  the 
inspirations  of  virtue  were  diminished.     Wealth 


140  *^ Peculiarly  Fortunate." 

grew,  but  the  inequalities  of  its  distribution 
were  increased  far  more  rapidly.  The  contrast 
between  extravagant  luxury  and  abject  want  was 
made  more  common  and  glaring  than  ever  be- 
fore. Wealthy  employers  lived  at  a  distance, 
geographically  and  socially,  from  their  less  for- 
tunate employees,  and  all  tbe  bonds  of  sympathy 
between  class  and  class  were  weakened,  while 
across  the  English  Channel  were  heard  the  mut- 
terings  of  the  popular  discontent  in  France 
which  eventually  burst  out  in  the  Reign  of  Ter- 
ror. What  would  have  been  the  result  if  these 
conjunctions  of  events  and  inflammatory  condi- 
tions had  rent  the  nation  in  twain  when  the  des- 
tinies of  America — and  the  welfare  of  the  world 
— turned  on  the  issue  of  the  conflict  with  France  ? 
The  French  held  all  the  territory  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Ohio  valleys  in  North  America — all 
west  of  the  Alleghanies.  The  future  of  India 
and  Canada  was  also  involved  in  the  mighty  con- 
test. Adopting  the  language  of  Lecky,  we  may 
say  of  this  perilous  period:  "It  is  peculiarly  for- 
tunate that  it  should  have  been  preceded  by  a 
religious  revival  which  opened  a  new  spring  of 
moral  and  religious  energy  among  the  poor,  and 
at  the  same  time  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  the 
philanthropy  of  the  rich."     That  healed  the 


Passing  a  Trijing  Crisis,  141 

breach,  solidified  the  nation,  and  saved  the  day. 
When  penitential  tears  flowing  from  the  eyes  of 
the  Cornish  miners  made  white  farrows  down 
their  grimy  faces,  while  Whitefield  and  the  Wes- 
leys  preached  to  them,  England  was  being  saved 
from  floods  of  grief  and  distress.  Sydney  Smith 
sneeringly  said  of  the  early  Methodists,  "All 
mines  and  subterranean  places  belong  to  them;" 
and  it  is  well  that  it  was  so,  or  soon  there  would 
have  been  nothing  above  ground  for  anybody 
else  to  care  for.  Other  influences,  of  course, 
conspired  to  save  the  nation,  but  without  the 
Wesleyan  revival  they  would  have  been  insuf- 
ficient in  themselves  alone.  The  England  of  a 
Wal pole's  day  could  not  have  passed  safely  such 
a  trying  crisis. 

Closely  akin  to  the  danger  from  the  rising 
industrialism  were  the  influences  of  French  infi- 
delity which  were  being  imported  into  the  land 
along  with  the  new  and  popular  theories  of  lib- 
erty with  which  France  was  then  filled.  Ed- 
mund Burke  profoundly  observed  that  ''when- 
ever a  separation  is  made  between  liberty  and 
justice  neither  is  safe,"  and  this  separation  the 
French  were  making.  They  clamored  for  a 
liberty  that  neither  feared  God  nor  regarded 
man.,  .  Against  this. danger  all  discerning  men 


142         Restraining  French  Radicalism, 

are  now  agreed  that  the  Wesleyan  revival  inter- 
posed an  impassable  barrier.  Mr.  Lecky,  who 
is  notoriously  free  from  any  evangelical  senti- 
ments or  sympathy,  analyzes  the  situation  in 
his  work  previously  quoted.  Speaking  of  the 
French  Revolution,  he  says:  "Its  chief  char- 
acteristics were  a  hatred  of  all  constituted 
authority,  an  insatiable  appetite  for  change, 
a  habit  of  regarding  rebellion  as  the  nor- 
mal as  well  as  the  noblest  form  of  political 
self-sacrifice,  a  disdain  for  all  compromise,  a 
contempt  for  all  tradition,  a  desire  to  level  all 
ranks  and  subvert  all  establishments,  a  deter- 
mination to  seek  progress  not  by  the  slow  and 
cautious  amelioration  of  existing  institutions, 
but  by  sudden,  violent,  and  revolutionary  change. 
Religion,  property,  civil  authority,  and  domes- 
tic life  were  all  assailed,  and  doctrines  incom- 
patible with  the  very  existence  of  government 
w  ere  embraced  by  multitudes  with  the  fervor  of 
a  religion.  England,  on  the  whole,  escaped  the 
contagion.  Many  causes  conspired  to  save  her, 
but  among  them  a  prominent  place  must,  I  be- 
lieve, be  given  to  the  new  and  vehement  religious 
enthusiasm  which  was  at  that  very  time  passing 
through  the  middle  and  lower  classes  of  the 
people,  which  had  enlisted  in  its  service  a  large 


An  Era  of  Philanthrope/,  143 

proportion  of  the  wilder  and  more  impetuous 
reformers,  and  which  recoiled  with  horror  from 
the  antichristian  tenets  that  were  associated  with 
the  Revolution  in  France." 

Against  this  poisonous  infidelity  and  perilous 
radicalism,  which  were  overcome  by  the  Wes- 
leyan  revival,  what  effective  opposition  would 
have  been  made  by  the  religion  which  Arch- 
bishop Seeker  described  and  the  preaching  which 
Blackstone  heard?  Would  not -such  Christian- 
ity as  they  tell  us  existed  in  England  before  the 
revival  came  have  fallen  in  with  the  frenzy  of 
the  French  and  have  made  in  Great  Britain  a 
deeper  desolation  and  a  more  direful  revolution 
than  befell  her  Gallic  neighbor  ?  And  if  such  a 
revolution  had  occurred  in  England,  what  would 
have  been  the  fate  of  America  ? 

But  the  revival  came,  and  instead  of  an  era  of 
destructive  revolution  there  was  inaugurated  by 
it  an  era  of  productive  philanthropy,  during 
which  the  worst  wounds  of  the  social  system 
have  been  soothed  and  the  tenderest  ministries 
of  brotherly  kindness  have  been  put  forth.  Men 
found  their  brother,  man,  in  finding  again  their 
Father,  God.  The  revival  gave  rise  to  all  sorts 
of  benevolent  efforts  and  enterprises,  many  of 
which  continue  in  increased  power  to  this  day. 


144  The  Sunday  School  Movement. 

To  its  inspiration  may  be  traced  the  labors  of 
John  Howard  in  his  great  work  of  prison  re- 
form. 

The  Sunday  school  movement,  inaugurated  by 
Robert  Raikes,  was  suggested  to  him  by  a  Meth- 
odist woman,  Sophia  Cook,  who  marched  with 
him  at  the  head  of  his  troop  of  ragged  children 
the  fii'st  Sunday  they  were  taken  to  the  parish 
church.  Another  Methodist  woman,  Hannah 
Ball,  really  had  at  High  Wycombe  a  Sunday 
school  fourteen  years  in  advance  of  Raikes's 
fii'st  school  at  Gloucester;  and  AVesley,  in  his 
parish  of  Christ  Church,  Savannah,  Ga.,  had 
a  Sunday  school  fifty  years  before  the  work  of 
Raikes  began.  Francis  Asbury  organized  a 
Sunday  school  in  Hanover  County,  Va.,  in  1786. 
The  vital  germ  of  the  Sunday  school  was  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  Wesl cyan  revival,  and  from 
the  revival  the  Sunday  school  movement  derived 
its  rapid  success.  In  Wesley's  Journal  we  find 
this  entry:  *'We  went  on  to  Bolton,  where  I 
preached  in  the  evening  in  one  of  the  most  ele- 
gant houses  in  the  kingdom,  and  to  me  one  of 
th(3  liveliest  congregations.  And  this  1  must 
avow,  there  is  not  such  a  set  of  singers  in  any 
one  of  the  Methodist  congregations  in  the  three 
kingdoms.     There,  cannot  be,  for  we  have  near 


No  Sunday  Schools  in  Revivalless  Lands.  145 

a  hundred  such  trebles,  boys  and  girls,  selected 
out  of  our  Sunday  schools,  and  accurately 
taught,  as  are  not  found  together  in  any  chapel, 
cathedral,  or  music  room  within  the  four  seas. 
Besides  the  spirit  with  which  they  sing,  the 
beauty  of  many  of  them  so  suits  the  melody 
that  I  defy  any  to  exceed  it,  except  the  singing 
of  the  angels  in  our  Father's  house.  On  Sunday, 
at  eight  and  at  one,  the  house  was  thoroughly 
filled.  About  three  I  met  between  nine  hundred 
and  a  thousand  of  the  children  belonging  to  our 
Sunday  schools.  I  never  saw  such  a  sight  be- 
fore." As  early  as  February,  1790,  the  Metho- 
dist Conference,  held  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  and 
presided  over  by  Bishop  Francis  Asbury,  took 
decided  action  and  formed  definite  plans  for  the 
organization  of  a  Sunday  school  in  connection 
with  every  place  of  w^orship.  By  1802  we  find 
the  "Sunday  School  Committee"  of  the  Wes^ 
ley  an  s  organized  in  London  for  the  promotion 
of  the  work  in  Great  Britain.  Soon  all  the  great 
Protestant  Churches  of  England  and  America 
took  up  the  work,  and  the  Sunday  school  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  scarcely  found  beyond  the 
limits  of  those  nations  which  the  Wesleyan  re- 
vival touched  and  the  mission  stations  estab- 
lished by  them  among  other  nations.  No  such 
10 


146  Popular  Education  Fostered. 

work  as  that  done  by  the  modern  Sunday  school 
could  have  originated  or  survived  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  or  in  the  days  of  Walpole's  min- 
istry in  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  Wesleyan  revival  founded  day  schools 
and  fostered  popular  education.  We  have  seen 
how  universities  followed  the  work  of  Wickliffe, 
and  how  colleges  came  of  the  great  awaken- 
ing in  America.  The  educational  systems  of 
Germany  and  Scotland  are  likewise  traceable  to 
the  labors  of  Luther  and  Knox,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  popular  education  in  England  is  found 
similarly  in  the  Wesleyan  era.  When  the  re- 
vival began,  education  was  the  luxury  of  the 
rich.  There  were  no  common  schools,  and  the 
universities  were  closed  to  Nonconformists.  The 
secondary  schools  were  all  in  the  hands  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Establishment.  The  first  Metho- 
dists were  forced,  therefore,  to  let  their  children 
grow  up  in  ignorance,  put  their  instruction  in 
the  hands  of  opponents  of  Wesleyanism,  or 
found  schools  of  their  own.  The  last  course 
was  difficult,  but  it  was  the  only  one  they  could 
take,  and  it  was  the  only  one  that  could  have 
been  expected  reasonably  of  a  movement  which 
began  in  the  preaching  of  evangelists  so  highly 
educated  as  were  the  Wesleys.     Accordingly, 


Good  Schools  and  Cheap  Literature.       147 

we  find  educational  efforts  put  forth  by  them 
from  the  first.  On  April  2,  1739,  John  AYesley 
preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  open  air;  on 
May  12,  of  the  same  year,  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  his  first  preaching  house;  and  in  June  he 
undertook  the  foundation  of  Kingswood  School. 
In  the  Foundry  School  in  London,  the  Orphan 
House  in  Newcastle,  and  in  Mrs.  Fletcher's  Or- 
phanage at  Leytonstone,  other  educational  en- 
deavors were  made.  At  a  later  date  the  Wood- 
house  Grove  School  was  founded,  confirming,  as 
does  also  all  the  educational  work  of  the  follow- 
ers of  Wesley  for  the  past  century,  the  declara- 
tion of  an  eminent  Methodist  authority  that  "it 
has  always  been  understood  that  good  schools 
for  the  literary,  scientific,  and  religious  instruc- 
tion of  youth  were  a  part  of  the  original  plans 
of  Methodism." 

Cheap  literature  for  the  people  was  one  of  the 
first  cares  of  Wesley  and  his  colaborers.  He 
wrote  many  books  and  abridged  many  more  for 
his  people,  and  published  these  writings  and 
abridgments  at  a  price  which  put  them  within 
the  reach  of  the  poorest  people.  He  and  Thom- 
as Coke  formed  the  first  tract  society  in  1782, 
seventeen  years  l^efore  the  organization  of  the 
great ' '  Religious  Tract  Society  "  of  Great  Britain. 


148  Benevolent  Institutions.  ^ 

The  first  British  Bible  Society  was  the  "  Naval 
and  Military,"  "organized,"  says  Lecky,  "to 
meet  the  wants  of  that  class  of  converts"  which 
glorified  with  faith  the  field  of  Fontenoy. 

Melville  Home,  who  for  some  years  was  one 
of  AYesley's  itinerant  preachers,  and  then  suc- 
ceeded the  saintly  Fletcher  as  Vicar  of  Madeley, 
originated  the  "London  Missionary  Society," 
and  John  Venn,  the  son  of  Henry  Venn,  a 
Methodist  preacher,  started  the  "Church  Mis- 
sionary Society." 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  free  dispensary 
the  world  ever  saw  was  that  which  was  founded 
by  Wesley  himself  in  connection  with  the  old 
Foundry  in  Moorfield. 

Methodism  in  1785  gave  birth  to  the  "  Stran- 
gers' Friend  Society,"  an  organization  w^hich 
pays  annually  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand  vis- 
its to  the  sick  poor  of  London. 

And  so  it  appears  the  revival  inspired  every 
form  of  philanthropic  effort  and  religious  enter- 
prise. Nothing  short  of  a  moral  revolution, 
aroused  by  supernatural  power  and  sustained  by 
divine  aid,  could  have  affected  so  universally  all 
the  people  of  the  nation,  and  have  produced  so 
many  institutions  of  benevolence.  It  is  no  won- 
der w^e  find  the  cold,  cynical  Walpole,  in  a  letter 


Political  Results.  149 

to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  writin<^,  "If  you  think  of 
returning  to  England,  as  I  hope  it  will  be  long 
first,  you  must  prepare  yourself  with  Methodism. 
I  really  believe  by  that  time  it  will  be  necessary; 
this  sect  increases  as  fast  almost  as  ever  any 
religious  nonsense  did."  Of  course  a  man  of 
his  sort  could  not  endure  such  a  movement,  and 
such  a  movement  could  not  tolerate  politicians 
of  his  corrupt  class.  The  purified  public  opin- 
ion of  the  revival  period  quickly  retired  him 
once  and  for  all,  and  made  way  for  Pitt  with 
his  world-saving  achievements. 

And  it  is  thus  manifest  that,  without  aiming 
at  any  political  ends,  the  Wesleyan  revival  con- 
tributed much  to  the  accomplishment  of  politi- 
cal results  of  the  most  beneficent  and  far-reach- 
ing character.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  has  forcibly 
remarked  that  "  to  change  national  customs  and 
habits  we  must  change  ideas."  It  were  better 
to  say  we  must  change  hearts.  The  Wesleyan 
revival  changed  both  ideas  and  hearts,  and 
thereby  brought  to  pass  a  political  as  well  as  a 
spiritual  revolution — a  revolution  which  power- 
fully affected  the  destiny  of  the  Great  Republic, 
and  in  fact  the  history  of  all  mankind.  From 
authorities  which  cannot  be  suspected  of  any 
partisan  bias  toward  Wesleyanism,  it  has  been 


150     Savinfj  the  Home  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

shown  that  this  revoUition,  though  the  product 
of  many  causes,  would  have  been  impossible 
without  the  revival.  The  heavenly  visitation, 
by  reinvigorating  the  moral  and  religious  life  of 
the  nation,  by  inspiring  invention,  quickening 
industrialism  and  saving  it  from  revolutionary 
tendencies,  by  averting  perils  from  within  and 
turning  back  dangers  from  without,  by  its  hu- 
mane and  enlightening  institutions,  raised  the 
enfeebled  England  of  Walpole's  time  to  the 
puissant  power  which  eventually  overcame  the 
French,  thus  giving  North  America  to  be  the 
home  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  and  as- 
suring the  predominance  of  Anglo-Saxon  influ- 
ence in  India  and  ''the  far  East."  By  the  vic- 
tory of  Culloden  Moor  the  pretensions  of  the 
Catholic  "Pretender"  to  the  throne  of  England 
were  ended,  and  the  Protestant  dynasty  assured 
beyond  the  power  of  question  or  competitor. 
By  the  apparently  small,  though  really  impor- 
tant, victory  of  Dettingen,  by  "the  peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,"  and  by  the  triumphs  of  Ascot 
and  Quebec,  England  saved  herself,  secured  her 
interests  in  India,  and  rescued  from  the  posses- 
sion of  France  Canada  and  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, west  of  the  Alleghanies  and  east  of  the 
Mississippi.     This  same  England,  growing  con- 


Anglo-Saxon  and  Latin.  151 

stantly  more  powerful,  so  excited  the  jealousy 
and  the  fears  of  the  first  Napoleon  a  little  later 
that,  rather  than  have  the  Louisiana  territory 
fall  into  the  hands  of  Great  Britain,  he  sold  it 
to  the  young  republic  for  less  than  three  cents 
an  acre.  This  imperial  domain  thus  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  United  States  without  the 
firing  of  a  gun  or  the  loss  of  a  life.  Its  pur- 
chase eventually  brought  on  the  conflict  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Latin  civilizations  for  the 
possession  of  Texas — a  conflict  which  resulted 
in  extending  the  American  Republic  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  and  completing  the  evacuation  of 
North  America  by  the  Latin  forces,  antagonis- 
tic to  evangelical  Christianity  and  Saxon  civi- 
lization. The  events  at  Dettingen,  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  Quebec,  and  Ascot,  in  which  this  series 
of  achievements  took  their  rise,  were  not  con- 
nected with  the  great  revival  by  the  mere  as- 
sociation of  coetaneous  events;  between  them 
and  it  there  was  a  causative  connection  found 
in  the  ennobled  national  life  without  which  they 
would  have  been  impossible.  Even  the  skep- 
tical Lecky  perceivesand  acknowledges  this  con- 
nection when  he  says:  "Although  the  career  of 
the  elder  Pitt,  and  the  splendid  victories  by 
land  and  sea  that  were  won  during  his  ministry, 


152  Lechfs  Testimonij. 

form  unquestionably  the  most  dazzling  episodes 
in  the  reign  of  George  11.,  they  must  yield,  I 
think,  in  real  importance  to  that  religious  rev- 
olution which  shortly  before  had  been  begun  in 
England  by  the  preaching  of  the  Wesley s  and 
Whitefield.  The  creation  of  a  large,  powerful, 
and  active  sect,  extending  over  both  hemi- 
spheres, and  numbering  many  millions  of  souls, 
was  but  one  of  its  consequences.  It  also  exer- 
cised a  profound  and  lasting  influence  upon  the 
spirit  of  the  Established  Church,  upon  the 
amount  and  distribution  of  the  moral  forces  of 
the  nation,  and  even  upon  the  course  of  its  po- 
litical history." 

If  the  Wesleyan  revival  in  its  direct  effects 
had  been  confined  to  the  United  Kingdom,  and 
if  none  of  its  converts  had  migrated  to  the  New 
World,  it  could  not  be  justly  excluded  from  con- 
sideration in  any  adequate  treatment  of  the 
forces  which  have  shaped  the  history  of  the 
United  States.  If  it  had  not  produced  a 
great  Church  which  has  borne  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  moral  life  of  the  republic,  it  would 
nevertheless  deserve  high  rank  among  the  be- 
niofn  influences  which  have  made  great  the 
American  nation.  But  in  addition  to  genera- 
ting a  saving  influence  in  Great  Britain  at  a  mo- 


Early  Methodists  in  America.  153 

meut  of  vital  importance  to  the  New  World,  it 
called  into  being  American  ]Methodism,  which 
has  been  among  the  foremost  Christian  bodies 
of  the  land.  As  we  have  seen,  as  far  back  as 
1766  converts  of  the  Wesleyan  revival  began 
coming  to  America,  such  as. Embury,  Straw- 
bridge,  Williams,  King,  and  Captain  Webb,  of 
the  British  arm3^  It  has  been  told,  also  how 
speedily  Wesley  sent  Boardman  and  Pilmoor 
to  be  shepherds  of  these  ''few  sheep  in  the  wil- 
derness." They  came  in  1769,  and  were  followed 
in  1771  by  Asbury  and  Wright,  the  former  be- 
coming Wesley's  assistant  in  America  in  1772. 
In  June,  1773,  Thomas  Rankin  and  George  Shad- 
ford  came  under  convoy  of  Captain  Webb,  and 
the  former  superseded  Asbury  for  a  time  in  the 
office  of  ' '  assistant "  to  Wesley  for  the  American 
work.  Then  in  1774  came  Martin  Rodda  and 
James  Dempster.  Thus  in  less  than  six  years 
eight  preachers  had  been  sent  over  by  the 
mother  Conference  for  the  work  in  the  col- 
onies. They  were  abundant  in  labors  and  ex- 
traordinarily successful  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  War  of  Independence.  During  that  con- 
flict all  who  did  not  return  before  it  began 
were  exposed  to  suspicion,  being  Englishmen, 
and  so  their   success   was  hindered.     By  1777 


154  Bapicl  Groidh,     ■     -- 

Asbuiy  and  Sbadford  were  all  that  were  left 
of  the  preachers  who  came  out  from  En- 
gland b}^  appointment  of  the  Wesleyan  Confer- 
ence, and  in  1778  Sbadford  also  returned,  leaving 
Asbury  alone  with  the  preachers  who  had  been 
made  in  the  American  societies.  Nevertheless, 
by  1784,  when,  the  war  being  ended,  the  Amer- 
ican Church  was  organized  with  Asbury  and 
Coke  as  its  first  bishops,  the  membership  of 
the  societies  had  increased  to  14,983;  13,331  of 
whom  were  in  the  Southern  States,  the  section 
of  the  country  least  affected  by  the  great  awaken- 
ing. By  the  year  1800  the  number  had  grown 
to  63,958,  and  45,282  of  them  were  in  the 
Southern  States.  Thus  in  thirty  years,  eight  of 
which  were  years  of  war  and  consequent  de- 
moralization, the  number  of  American  Meth- 
odists exceeded  the  whole  number  of  converts 
in  all  the  Churches  during  the  great  awaken- 
ins:,  and  most  of  them  were  in  the  Southern 
States,  which  had  shared  less  than  the  Northern 
colonies  in  the  blessings  of  the  revival  of 
Whitefield,  Edwards,  and  the  Tennents.  So 
the  Wesleyan  revival  was  preserving  and  en- 
larging the  great  work  of  1740. 

From  the  year  1800  until  the  present  time 
American  Methodism   has  gone  forward  with 


"Firmest  Pillars  of  Civil  Institutions  J'     155 

amazing  strides.  Born  in  a  great  revival,  it  has 
had  a  natural  affinity  for  that  evangelistic  type 
of  Christianity  which  is  the  characteristic  form 
of  religion  in  America,  and  has  greatly  pro- 
moted it.  Its  generous  and  genial  theology 
and  its  itinerant  system  of  Church  government 
have  commended  it  to  the  people  of  the  Great 
Republic  as,  in  freedom  and  force,  they  have 
pushed  over  the  Western  World.  Dr.  Robert 
Baird,  the  distinguished  Presbyterian  preacher, 
and  author  of  the  justly  celebrated  work,  "Re- 
ligion in  America,"  declares  that  in  his  day 
Methodism  was  "the  most  powerful  element  in 
the  religious  prosperity  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  one  of  the  firmest  pillars  of  our  civil  and 
religious  institutions."  The  Methodists  were 
first  to  present  formal  congratulations  to  Wash- 
ington upon  his  election  to  the  presidency, 
pledging  their  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  new 
republic;  and  Abraham  Lincoln  said  Methodism 
furnished  more  recruits  to  the  Federal  army 
during  the  Civil  War  than  came  from  any  other 
Church.  Jefferson  Davis  might  have  said  the 
same  of  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy.  And 
the  reason  is  plain:  the  Methodists  were  more 
numerous  than  any  other  Protestant  body,  and 
they  were  not  behind  any  in  patriotic  devotion. 


166      The  Strength  of  American  Methodism. 

They  now  (1904)  Dumber  65^37,4:61  communi- 
cants in  the  United  States.  The  Methodist 
Churches  have  evangelized  the  Indians,  and  of 
the  8,000,000  negroes  in  the  country,  1,729,597 
are  Methodists.  They  have  German  and  Scan- 
dinavian Conferences  among  the  foreigners  who 
have  emigrated  to  the  South  and  the  Northwest, 
and  they  have  Annual  Conferences  on  the  conti- 
nents of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  as  offshoots 
and  parts  of  the  work  in  the  United  States. 
They  have  penetrated  South  America,  the  West 
Indies,  Mexico,  Alaska,  Hawaii,  the  Philippine 
Islands,  China,  Japan,  Korea,  and  India  with 
their  mission  stations. 

Like  the  Wesleyans  of  Great  Britain,  they  un- 
dertook educational  work  from  the  first,  and 
have  carried  it  to  a  great  degree  of  success.  On 
June  5,  1785,  Bishop  Asbury  laid  the  corner 
stone  of  Cokesbury  College,  at  Abingdon,  Md., 
and  he  sought  to  plant  •  similar  institutions  in 
every  section  of  the  country.  Methodism  was 
the  pioneer  of  higher  education  in  the  great 
wilderness  of  the  West,  establishing  a  school  in 
Kentucky,  near  the  Ohio  River,  before  Asbury 
died,  and  opening  McKendree  College,  in  Illi- 
nois, in  1834.  The  last-mentioned  was  the  first 
college  in  all  that  vast  prairie  domain,  and  John 


Schools  and  Colleges.  157 

Wesley  Merrill,  a  man  bearing  the  name  of  the 
great  Englishman,  was  its  first  president.  Of 
the  four  hundred  and  sixty-four  colleges  and 
universities  reporting  to  the  United  States  Com- 
missioner of  Education  in  1903,  seventy-six  are 
Methodist  institutions;  and  of  nine  hundred  and 
twenty-three  secondary  schools  under  denomi- 
national control  reporting,  one  hundred  and 
nine  are  Methodist  schools.  It  is  not  the  poli- 
cy of  American  Methodism  to  establish  parochi- 
al schools,  but  to  give  ardent  support  to  the 
common  schools  supported  by  the  several  States 
^ — the  best  system  of  common  schools  in  the 
world.  How  just  are  the  Avords  of  Hon.  Ed- 
ward Everett:  "No  Church  in  the  country  has 
so  successfully  engaged  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion as  the  Methodist  Church ! " 

Following  the  example  of  Wesley  and  the 
Wesleyans  in  Great  Britain,  the  Methodist 
Churches  in  the  United  States  have  done  much 
for  the  production  of  a  popular  religious  litera- 
ture. The  greatest  publishing  house  in  the 
world  is  the  Methodist  Book  Concern,  in  New 
York,  and  it  is  closely  followed  by  the  similar 
establishments  located  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
Nashville,  Tenn.  The  two  great  branches  of 
Episcopal  Methodism  in  the  United  States  have 


158  As  Effective  as  the  Exodus. 

recently  united  in  establishing  another  house  of 
the  same  kind  in  Shanghai;  China.  These  im- 
mense plants  had  their  beginnings  and  growth 
in  the  bookselling  of  the  early  and  later  itin- 
erants, who,  in  a  zealous  effort  to  enlighten  the 
people,  builded  more  wisely  and  grandly  than 
they  knew. 

For  all  these  things  and  more  which  have  ben- 
eficially affected  the  Great  Republic,  we  are  in- 
debted to  the  Wesleyan  revival  in  Great  Britain 
during   the   eighteenth    century.     While  orig- 
inating across  the  sea,  it  may  be  doubted  if  it 
has  influenced  the  land  of  its  birth  as  much  as  it 
has  North  America.     The  exodus  from  Egypt— 
the  religious  movement  under  the  leadership  of 
the  great  Hebrew  lawgiver,  Moses,  in  the  days 
of  Menephthah — in  the  course  of  forty  years 
after  its  beginning,  delivered  itself  upon  the 
Canaanitish  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  over- 
throwing the  tribal  governments  there,  and  on 
their  ruins  erecting  a  new  spiritual  common- 
wealth.    Excepting  that  movement,  and  possi- 
bly the  Lutheran  Reformation,  no  movement 
has  ever  affected  a  distant  land  as  did  the  Wes- 
leyan revival  the  northern  half  of  the  Western 
World.     The  extent  of  our  national  borders, 
and  many  of  the  best  things  and  noblest  institu- 


Unifying  the  Anglo-Saxon  Nations.       159 

tions  held  within  that  imperial  domain,  we  owe 
to  the  national  revival  which  came  to  Great 
Britain  during  the  eighteenth  century  under  the 
leadership  of  Whitefield  and  the  Wesley s. 

It  remains  also  to  be  said  that  the  Wesleyan 
revival,  like  the  great  awakening,  did  much  to 
promote  the  unity  of  the  English-speaking  peo- 
ples. It  broke  the  shock  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  arrested  the  centrifugal  tendencies  which 
were  generated  by  that  conflict,  and  by  which 
the  Americans  were  in  danger  of  flying  away 
from  the  center  of  Anglo-Saxon  unity  to  follow 
the  movements  of  revolutionary  France,  and  dur- 
ing all  subsequent  time  it  has  contributed  might- 
ily to  the  unification  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Stead  is  not  extravagant  in  a  recent 
utterance  when  he  says:  "From  the  standpoint 
of  those  who,  like  ourselves,  regard  the  unity 
of  the  English-speaking  people  as  one  of  the 
supreme  ends  of  modern  politics,  it  is  difficult 
to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  John  Wesley 
and  his  work.  In  the  most  energetic  denomina- 
tion in  the  United  States  he  created  a  new  tie 
between  the  empire  and  the  republic.  Millions 
upon  millions  of  Americans  regard  Epworth 
and  Fetter  Lane,  the  Foundry  and  City  Road,  as 
the  Mecca  and  Medina  of  their  faith.     Carlyle 


160  John  Wesley  in  the  First  Rank, 

said  that  Shakespeare  by  his  s^enius  had  unified 
the  ED^lish-speaking  world.  We  are  all  united, 
he  said,  in  allegiance  to  King  Shakespeare.  But 
that  which  Shakespeare  could  not  do,  in  that 
millions  never  read  or  see  his  plays,  John  Wes- 
ley has  done  much  in  effect.  Among  the  influ- 
ences which  create  a  sense  of  unity  among  our 
English  folk,  that  of  John  Wesley  stands  very 
nearly  in  the  first  rank.  Neither  Knox  nor 
Cromwell  affects  the  lives  of  so  many  men  and 
women,  who  are  toiling  and  working  all  around 
us  to-day,  as  does  John  Wesley.  There  are 
nigh  upon  thirty  millions  of  English-speaking 
men  who  view  the  next  life  through  Wesley's 
spectacles,  and  whose  round  of  daily  duty  is  di- 
rectly affected  by  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  great  Methodist  saint — the  Ignatius  Loyola 
of  the  English  Church." 

This  unification  of  the  English-speaking 
world,  growing  closer  every  day,  is  a  tremen- 
dous fact  with  which  publicists  and  all  mankind 
will  have  to  reckon  more  and  more  in  the  years 
at  hand. 


VI. 

THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF  1800. 

U 


It  was  the  opening  of  a  new  revival  epoch  which  has 
lasted  now  more  than  half  a  century  with  but  short  and 
partial  interruptions — and  blessed  be  God,  the  end  is  not 
yet. — Dr.  Eeman  Humphrey,  ex-Presidcnt  AmJierst  Col- 
lege, in  '' Revival  Sketches/' 

From  the  year  1800  down  to  the  year  1825  there  was 
an  uninterrupted  series  of  these  celestial  visitations 
spreading  over  different  parts  of  the  land.  During  the 
whole  of  those  twenty-five  years  there  was  scarcely  a 
time  in  which  we  could  not  point  to  some  village,  some 
city,  some  seminary,  and  say:  "Behold  what  God  hath 
wrought!" — Eev.  Gardner  Spring,  D.D. 

From  the  period  we  have  now  reached  (the  year  1800), 
it  is  unnecessary  and,  indeed,  impossible  to  trace  dis- 
tinctly the  progress  of  our  revivals.  They  have  become, 
if  I  may  so  speak,  a  constituent  part  of  the  religious  sys« 
tem  of  our  country.  ...  So  that  he  who  should  op- 
pose himself  to  revivals,  as  such,  would  be  regarded  by 
most  of  our  evangelical  Christians  as  ipso  facto  an  enemy 
to  spiritual  religion  itself. — Br.  Robert  Baird,  in  ''Reli- 
gion in  A  merica, ' '  18oG. 

-^  Calvinism,  though  more  congenial  than  Episcopacy, 
and  infinitely  more  so  than  Catholicism,  was  too  cold 
for  the  fiery  hearts  of  the  borders;  they  were  not  stirred 
to  the/lepths  of  their  natures  till  other  creeds,  and  above 
all  Methodism,  worked  their  way  to  the  wilderness. — 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  ''Winning  of  the  West.'" 
(162) 


VI. 

THE  GREAT  REVIVAL  OF  1800. 

History  shows  a  high  disregard  of  the  calen- 
dar, and  great  movements  arise  and  proceed  to 
their  culmination  with  little  respect  for  the  date 
lines  drawn  by  men.  "In  the  fullness  of  time," 
as  seen  by  God,  the  forces  of  Providence  and  the 
operations  of  the  Spirit  converge  as  allied  pow- 
ers on  gi'eat  elevations  of  life  and  advance  to 
victories  of  world-wide  significance,  taking  small 
notice  of  the  turn  of  centuries  as  marked  by  hu- 
man chronologists.  Yet,  for  convenience  of 
thought  and  facility  of  treatment,  we  may  asso- 
ciate these  triumphs  of  grace  and  faith  with  cer- 
tain notable  years  and  consider  them  within  cer- 
tain temporal  limits.  Thus  we  assign  the  great 
awakening  to  the  year  1740,  although  it  began 
at  least  five  years  before  that  date  and  continued 
many  years  afterwards.  It  reached  its  flood 
tide  when  Whitefield  first  visited  New  England, 
in  1740,  and  hence  it  is  designated  by  that  date. 
Similarly,  the  national  revival  which  was  going 
on  at  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  is 
commonly  called  the  great  revival  of  1800,  al- 

(163) 


164:  Religious  Declension  and  National  Danger. 

though  it  really  began  in  1792  and  never  ceased 
at  any  point  so  definitely  that  one  could  say  of 
it,  "  Behold,  here  it  ended."  It  reached  its  cli- 
max in  the  West,  where  its  effects  were  most 
conspicuous,  during  the  year  1800,  and  hence  the 
name  by  which  it  is  called. 

It  was  preceded  by  a  period  of  great  religious 
declension.  When  it  began,  the  state  of  both  the 
nation  and  the  Churches  was  gloomy  by  reason  of 
faith  deca^^ed  and  hearts  grown  ,cold.  Iniquity 
abounded  and  skepticism  prevailed  on  all  sides. 
The  War  of  Independence  had  ended  in  victory 
for  the  colonies,  but  the  young  republic  was 
threatened  by  dangers  worse  than  armed  foes, 
gaunt  famine,  or  the  noisome  pestilence. 

After  the  year  1750  there  was  a  gradual  sub- 
sidence of  the  revival  influences  of  the  great 
awakening.  Many  pious  immigrants,  it  is  true, 
came  into  the  country  from  the  Wesleyan  reviv- 
al centers  of  England  from  that  time  until  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  twenty-five  years  later, 
and  many  Churches  kept  the  fires  on  their  altars 
burning  brightly  through  all  those  trying  days. 
But  the  opponents  of  the  great  revival,  taking 
occasion  from  some  of  the  excesses  and  disorders 
incident  to  it,  did  much  to  quench  the  sacred 
flame.     The   civil    troubles    arising  from    the 


French  Influences,  165 

French  wars,  from  1756  to  1763,  and  the  politi- 
cal agitations  which  led  to  the  War  of  Independ- 
ence also  distracted  the  minds  of  men,  and  the 
spiritual  life  of  many  was  sadly  affected.  Then 
came  the  war,  with  all  the  demoralization  which 
usually  attends  a  conflict  of  arms,  and  with  not 
a  little  that  was  unusual  and  unprecedented.  As 
it  progressed,  France,  not  because  she  loved  the 
colonies  so  much,  but  because  she  hated  England 
more,  gave  her  sympathy  and  influence  on  behalf 
of  the  cause  of  independence.  As  a  natural  conse- 
quence, when  the  war  was  over  French  theories 
of  government  were  vastly  popular,  and  French 
notions  of  religion  were  widely  accepted.  The 
evil  contagion  was  spread  by  the  identification 
of  certain  conspicuous  men,  like  Jefferson  and 
Franklin,  with  the  forces  of  liberalism.  Charles 
Lee  was  a  reckless  blasphemer,  and  even  Edmund 
Randolph  came  for  a  time  under  the  influence  of 
deism.  General  Dearborn,  who  became  Secre- 
tary of  "War  when  Jefferson  was  President,  was 
utterly  impatient  of  all  things  religious,  and  on 
one  occasion,  in  alluding  to  the  Churches,  said: 
"So  long  as  these  temples  stand  we  cannot  hope 
for  order  and  good  government. "  The  grandson 
of  Jonathan  Edwards,  Aaron  Burr,  who  was 
then  extremely  popular,  embraced  French  infi- 


166  Tlie  Wo7xh  of  Washinrjton. 

delity  with  all  the  ardor  of  a  new  convert  and 
lent  the  force  of  his  brilliant  personality  to  the 
propagation  of  its  tenets.  The  ribaldry  of  Paine 
and  the  vitriolic  teachings  of  Voltaire  were  uni- 
versally prevalent.  '  A  passage  in  Washington's 
farewell  address  was  manifestly  aimed  at  current 
conditions  and  derived  peculiar  force  from  its 
evident  application  to  certain  prominent  per- 
sons. It  also  reveals  how  the  wisest  and  best 
men  of  the  times  considered  that  these  moral 
distempers  involved  grave  political  perils.  With 
evident  warmth  the  first  President  said:  "Of  all 
the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political 
prosperity,  religion  and  morality  are  indispensa- 
ble supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the 
tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to  subvert 
these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  these 
firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens. 
The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man, 
ought  to  respect  and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume 
could  not  trace  all  their  connections  Avith  private 
and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked. 
Where  is  the  security  for  prosperity,  for  reputa- 
tion, for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligation 
desert  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  in- 
vestigation in  courts  of  justice  ?  And  let  us  with 
caution  indulge  the  supposition  thaf  morality  can 


Liberalism  Threatening  Llhertij,        167 

bfi  tnaintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may 
'  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education 
on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  ex- 
perience both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national 
morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious 
liberty. "  That  addi-ess  was  given  to  the  country 
in  September,  1796,  and  was  as  keenly  felt  by  the 
men  of  the  time  as  its  force  is  manifest  to  us  who 
read  it  now.  Such  men  as  Franklin  with  his 
sordid  and  selfish  morality,  and  Jefferson  with 
his  cold  Unitarianism  and  his  frigid  ethical  theo- 
ries, must  have  winced  under  it. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  ' '  Father  of  His  Coun- 
try''  felt  constrained  to  include  such  a  paragraph 
among  his  parting  counsels  to  his  countrymen. 
The  hearts  of  the  strongest  failed  them  for  fear. 
Bishop  IMeade  declared:  ''I  can  truly  say  that 
then,  and  for  some  years  after,  in  every  educated 
young  man  in  Virginia  whom  I  met  I  expected  to 
find  a  skeptic,  if  not  an  avowed  unbeliever. "  He 
characterized  the  College  of  William  and  Mary, 
which  had  been  founded  in  religious  motives  for 
Christian  ends,  as  "the  hotbed  of  French  poli- 
tics and  religion."  Harvard  College  had  gone 
far  in  the  direction  of  liberalism,  and  was  con- 
siderably advanced  in  the  policy  which  culmi- 
nated, in  1805,  with  the  election  of  Henry  Ware, 


168'  Corrupting  the  Collerjes, 

an  avowed  and  extreme  Unitarian,  to  the  divin- 
ity professorship  founded  in  1722  by  Thomas 
Hollis,  a  devout  Baptist  of  London.  Yale  had 
succumbed  to  the  evil  influences  of  the  hour,  and 
when  Timothy  Dwight,  another  grandson  of 
Jonathan  Edwards  and  a  cousin  to  Aaron  Burr, 
came  to  the  presidency  of  the  institution,  in  1795, 
it  was  honeycombed  with  atheistical  clubs.  Ly- 
man Beecher,  who  entered  the  college  as  a  stu- 
dent about  that  time,  says  it  "was  in  a  most  un- 
godly state,"  and  adds:  ''Most  of  the  class  before 
me  were  infidels,  and  called  each  other  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  D'AIembert,"  etc.  Thomas  Cooper, 
a  rank  freethinker,  was  infecting  ever}^  institu- 
tion that  he  touched — Dickinson  College,  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  South  Carolina 
College.  Princeton  had  been  closed  for  three 
years  during  the  war,  thus  intermitting  its  be- 
neficent influence,  and  in  1792  had  only  two 
among  all  its  students  who  professed  to  be  Chris- 
tians. 

The  conditions  existing  in  the  educational  in- 
stitutions named  indicated  accurately  the  preva- 
lent tendencies  among  the  educated  classes 
throughout  the  land.  And  the  uneducated 
masses  were  equally  alienated  from  God.  Doubt 
among  the  cultured  classes  is  always  attended 


Profanity  and  Profligacy,  169 

with  disorder  among  the  uncultured,  and  the 
case  of  the  new  nation  proved  no  exception  to 
the  rule. 

The  Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  in  a  de- 
liverance made  in  1798,  summed  up  the  situation 
in  terms  of  gloomy  foreboding  not  dispropor- 
tioned  to  the  darkness  of  the  hour.  That  con- 
servative and  consecrated  body  declared:  "For- 
midable innovations  and  convulsions  in  Europe 
threaten  destruction  to  morals  and  religion. 
Scenes  of  devastation  and  bloodshed,  unexam- 
pled in  the  history  of  modern  nations,  have  con- 
vulsed the  world,  and  our  country  is  threatened 
with  similar  calamities.  We  perceive  with  pain 
and  fearful  apprehension  a  general  dereliction  of 
religious  principles,  and  practice  among  our  fel- 
low-citizens, a  visible  and  prevailing  impiety 
and  contempt  for  the  laws  and  institutions  of  re- 
ligion, and  an  abounding  infidelity  which,  in 
many  instances,  tends  to  atheism  itself.  The 
profligacy  and  corruption  of  the  public  morals 
have  advanced  with  a  progress  proportionate  to 
our  declension  in  religion.  Profaneness,  pride, 
luxury,  injustice,  intemperance,  lewdness,  and 
every  species  of  debauchery  and  loose  indulgence 
greatly  abound.'' 

The  Methodist  movement,  which  had  but  re- 


170  Even  Methodism  Declined, 

centl J  entered  the  New  World,  girded  as  a  strong 
man  to  run  a  race,  and  which  had  rapidly  grown 
during  the  stormy  period  of  the  war,  so  that,  by 
1791,  it  was  able  to  report  250  preachers  and 
63,269  white  members  and  12,881  members 
among  the  negroes,  showed  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1792  a  decrease  of  11,160  white  members 
and  an  increase  of  only  987  to  its  colored  mem- 
bership. This  decline  continued  through  the  year 
1793.  The  tide  turned  a  little  in  1791,  and  there 
was  a  small  annual  increase  until  1796,  when 
the  records  show  that  the  membership  dropped 
from  60,291  to  56,661  The  total  membership 
of  this  young  and  enthusiastic  Church  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1800  was  larger  than  it  had  been  ten 
years  before  by  only  about  1,500  souls.  Some 
allowance  must  be  made  for  inaccuracy  of  statis- 
tics during  that  restless  period,  and  also  for  the 
dropping  out  of  Nova  Scotia's  reports;  but  after 
all  deductions  on  these  accounts  are  made,  it  re- 
mains unquestionably  true  that  from  1791  to  1800 
American  ]Methodism,  in  common  with  all  the 
other  Churches  of  the  country,  was  in  a  declin- 
ing state. 

Much  of  the  loss,  reflected  in  the  Church  sta- 
tistics of  the  time,  is  explained  by  the  vast  mi- 
gration which  had  begun  from  the  East,  west- 


Peculiar  and  Perilous  Colonization,       171 

Ward  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains  into  the 
great  Mississippi  basin,  and  which  constituted  a 
new'  peril  to  the  young  republic.  It  was  the 
beginnino^  of  a  peculiar  and  far-reaching  system 
of  colonization,  which  has  continued  from  then 
until  now,  and  by  which  more  than  thirty  fron- 
tier colonies  have  grown  into  as  many  sovereign 
States  in  the  Federal  Union  of  America.  It  has 
been  wholly  unlike  any  scheme  of  colonization 
in  ancient  or  modern  times,  and  at  the  outset  it 
brought  with  it  religious  and  political  dangers 
even  greater  than  those  which  beset  the  first 
settlements  of  the  British  colonists  in  the  New 
World.  The  men  from  the  Old  World  who  set- 
tled in  the  original  thirteen  Colonies  came  out 
of  great  awakenings,  but  these  emigrants  from 
the  East  to  the  West  fled  to  the  wilderness  for 
purposes  of  gain  and  adventure,  leaving  their 
first  homes  in  the  East  when  the  great  awaken- 
ing had  been  succeeded  by  a  great  declension 
of  faith,  and  before  the  great  revival  of  1800 
had  begun.  They  were  not  driven  by  the 
Spirit  into  their  wilderness  temptation  as  their 
fathers  had  been  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but 
they  had  hurried  thither  under  the  impulsion 
of  purely  mundane  motives.  Thus  wrenched 
away  from  all   those  social  and   ecclesiastical 


172  Beyond  the  Bedim  of  Law, 

roots  which  nourish  and  enrich  the  spiritual 
life,  they  set- themselves  out  in  a  wild  and 
churchless  region.  Around  them  were  the  sav- 
ages, cherishing  many  resentments  against  the 
whites  and  availing  themselves  of  every  oppor- 
tunity to  get  booty  or  wreak  vengeance.  The 
warnings  and  inspirations  of  organized  Chris- 
tianity were  left  far  behind,  and  the  imperious 
claims  of  the  body  for  support  and  security  si- 
lenced all  the  voices  of  the  famishing  spirit. 
Men  justified  the  worst  excesses  by  the  plea  of 
necessity,  and  at  length  came  to  feel  that  they 
had  wandered  beyond  the  realm  of  moral  law, 
and  were  inhabitants  of  a  region  in  which  virtue 
was  not  feasible.  Moral  deterioration,  with  all 
the  social  and  political  disorders  which  it  both 
makes  and  implies,  quickly  set  in.  The  dread- 
ful situation  may  be  easily  inferred  from  a  re- 
port made  by  a  committee  of  Congress,  in  1800, 
with  respect  to  the  three  States  into  which  it 
was  proposed  to  divide  the  Northwest  Territo- 
ry. That  report  says  that  "  in  the  three  West- 
ern countries  there  has  been  but  one  court  hav- 
ing cognizance  of  crimes  in  five  years;  and  the 
immunity  which  offenders  experience  attracts, 
as  to  an  asylum,  the  most  vile  and  abandoned 
criminals,  and  at  the  same  time  deters  useful 


InsiuTedionary  and  Intemperate,        173 

and  virtuous  persons  from  making  settlements 
in  such  society.  This  territory  is  exposed,  as  a 
frontier,  to  foreign  nations,  whose  agents  can 
find  suflacient  interest  in  exciting  or  fomenting 
insurrection  and  discontent,  as  thereby  they  can 
more  easily  divert  a  valuable  trade  in  furs  from 
the  United  States." 

Intemperance  abounded  to  a  horrible  degree, 
and  the  manufacture  of  distilled  liquors  was 
speciously  defended  and  widely  carried  on.  "A 
horse  can  carry  only  four  bushels  of  rye,  but 
he  can  carry  the  whisky  made  from  twenty- 
four  bushels,"  was  the  final  argument  of  those 
isolated  and  marketless  settlements  in  defense  of 
their  most  lucrative  form  of  commerce.  The 
'*  Whisky  Insurrection  of  1794"  was  an  outburst 
of  this  interest,  in  rebellion  against  the  internal 
revenue  laws  of  the  Federal  government,  and  it 
is  worthy  of  note  that  such  a  person  as  Albert 
Gallatin  bore  a  part  in  that  agitation.  It  is  also 
significant  that  not  a  few  towns  in  the  "North- 
west Territory"  of  that  time  were  named  for 
him,  and  are  still  so  called. 

The  autobiography  of  the  celebrated  pioneer 
preacher  of  the  Methodists,  Peter  Cartwright, 
reveals  the  general  state  of  things  in  Kentucky 
in  1792,  as  he  recalled  it  in  his  old  age.     He 


174  'TiOfjues"  and  ^'Regulators.'' 

says:  "Logan  County,  when  my  father  moved 
into  it,  was  called  'Rogues'  Harbor.'  Here 
many  refugees  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  fled 
to  escape  punishment  or  justice;  for  although 
there  was  law,  yet  it  could  not  be  executed,  and 
it  was  a  desperate  state  of  society.  Murderers, 
horse  thieves,  highway  robbers,  and  counterfeit- 
ers fled  there,  until  they  combined  and  actually 
formed  a  majority.  Those  who  favored  a  bet- 
ter state  of  morals  were  called  'Regulators.' 
But  they  encountered  fierce  opposition  from  the 
'Rogues,'  and  a  battle  was  fougJ|j^with  guns, 
pistols,  dirks,  knives,  and  clubs,  in  #hich  the 
'Regulators'  were  defeated." 

Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Doddridge  repcKled  of  por- 
tions of  the  region  on  the  Ohio:  "Jstong  the 
people  with  whom  I  was  most  conversant  there 
was  no  other  vestige  of  the  Christian  religion 
than  a  faint  observance  of  the  Sunday,  and  that 
merely  as  a  day  of  rest  for  the  aged  and  a  play^ 
day  for  the  young." 

Missionaries  from  the  East  who  penetrated 
the  Western  territory  reported  to  the  authori- 
ties who  sent  them  forth  that  from  western 
Pennsylvania,  throughout  what  is  now  West 
Virginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama, 
and  Mississippi,  they  found  extensive  tracts  of 


Populotis  and  Demoralized,  175 

country,  inhabited  by  from  twenty  to  fifty  thou- 
sand people,  without  a  church  or  a  preacher  of 
any  denomination.  Nor  was  the  region  so  thinly 
inhabited  as  might  be  supposed.  In  ISOO  there 
were  two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  people 
in  Kentucky  and  one  hundred  and  five  thousand 
in  Tennessee. 

From  forgetting  their  allegiance  to  God  the 
people  were  coming  to  hold  lightly  their  alle- 
giance to  the  new  republic.  They  had  strayed 
almost  beyond  the  reach  of  its  protection  and 
benefits,  and  they  were  beginning  to  disregard 
its  authority  and  to  despise  its  laws.  Thus  they 
w^ere  becoming  the  easy  victims  of  agitators  and 
adventurers,  like  the  unscrupulous  and  subtle 
Aaron  Burr,  nursing  his  personal  animosities 
and  disappointed  ambitions.  If  the  conditions 
which  beset  them  had  continued  much  longer,  an 
early  secession  must  surely  have  been  fomented, 
and  civil  war  have  followed. 

At  such  a  moment,  to  what  source  of  de- 
liverance could  the  nation  look  for  the  salva- 
tion of  these  populous  but  demoralized  col- 
onies ? 

To  law  ?  The  report  to  Congress  shows  how 
infrequent  and  ineffective  were  the  courts,  and 
Cartwrio^ht's  statement  shows  that  the  disorder- 


176       Cleansing  the  Den  of  the  Cockatrice, 

ly  elements  outnumbered  and  overpowered  the 
orderly. 

To  education?  The  people  had  neither  the 
taste  for  it  nor  the  means  of  supplying  it.  Be- 
sides, the  process  of  education  would  have  been 
too  slow,  if  it  had  been  adequate  to  remedy  such 
a  condition.  While  a  generation  was  training, 
even  if  it  could  have  been  secured  against  con- 
tamination Dj  its  predecessor,  the  forces  of  evil 
would  have  outrun  the  forces  of  good  by  the 
rapidity  of  the  immoral  immigration  which  was 
flowing  in  upon  them. 

To  a  dainty,  formal,  and  ritualistic  or  ra- 
tionalistic Christianity?  Spraying  the  den  of 
the  cockatrice  with  rose  water  in  order  to  subdue 
its  fierceness  or  neutralize  its  venom  would  have 
been  as  effective  as  that  type  of  religion  to  heal 
the  distempers  of  such  a  time  and  place. 

Nothing  but  a  great  revival  of  religion,  like 
the  saving  tide  of  the  great  awakening  w^hich 
swept  over  the  early  colonies,  and  the  redeem- 
ing waves  of  the  Wesleyan  revival,  which  puri- 
fied Great  Britain,  could  cleanse  the  Western 
territory  of  its  foulness.  And  such  a  revival 
came  in  the  year  180Q,  and  so  gave  the  name  by 
which  the  revival  period  which  began  in  New 
England  as  early  as  1792  is  now  known. 


McGreadij  and  the  McGees.  177 

It  came  on  this  wise:  Among  those  who  had 
gone  out  from  Pennsylvania  were  some  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians.  There  were  also  among 
them  many  Methodists  and  not  a  few  Baptists, 
with  a  small  number  of  Episcopalians.  These 
were  the  saving  salt.  Pursuing  these  exiles,  the 
Methodists  had  sent  "out  itinerant  preachers  who 
organized  "circuits"  within  the  territory  as 
early  as  1786.  Other  preachers — a  few  only — 
had  also  entered  the  field.  The  Scotch-Irish 
Presb^^terians,  who  were  conspicuous  among  the 
early  settlers  of  the  West,  called  a  few  minis- 
ters from  the  East.  In  1796  a  Presbyterian 
preacher  named  James  McGready,  who  had 
seen  pastoral  service  in  Pennsylvania  and  North 
Carolina,  took  charge  of  several  Churches  in 
Logan  County,  Ky.  As  he  moved  around  among 
his  small  and  scattered  congregations,  his  ser- 
mons were  delivered  with  unwonted  power,  and 
his  preaching  began  ' '  to  arouse  false  professors, 
to  awaken  a  dead  Church,  and  to  warn  sinners 
and  lead  them  to  seek  the  new  spiritual  life 
which  he  himself  had  found."  Three  years 
later  two  brothers,  William  and  John  McGee, 
one  a  Presbyterian  minister  and  the  other  a 
Methodist — in  combination  the  prototype  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  which  arose 
12 


178  The  First  Camp  Meetings, 

from  the  great  revival  a  little  later — came 
through  the  enchanting  Cumberland  country  of 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  preaching  with  amaz- 
ing effect  to  vast  multitudes  that  hung  upon 
their  words.  On  one  occasion,  in  Logan  Coun- 
ty, July,  1800,  thousands  came  together  from 
far  and  near  and  encamped  in  the  woods  for 
several  days  to  hear  the  long-neglected  gospel 
of  Christ.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  camp 
meetings  which  have  been  so  effective  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  Christianity  in  the  United  States, 
and  out  of  Avhich  have  grown  the  Chautauquas 
and  other  kindred  assemblies  of  recent  years. 

Such  meetings  quickly  became  common,  and 
an  eyewitness  of  one  of  the  scenes  which  were 
usual  to  them  has  left  a  vivid  account  of  them. 
Rev.  Barton  Warren  Stone,  serving  his  two 
congregations  of  Concord  and  Cane  Ridge,  in 
Bourbon  County,  made  the  journey  across  the 
State  of  Kentucky  to  see  for  himself  the  won- 
derful things  of  which  he  and  all  the  Northwest 
country  were  daily  hearing  astonishing  accounts. 
He  says:  '^ There,  on  the  edge  of  a  prairie  in 
Logan  County,  Ky.,  the  multitudes  came 
together  and  continued  a  number  of  days  and 
nights  encamped  on  the  ground,  during  which 
time  worship  was  carried  on  in  some  part  of  the 


A  New  and  Stramje  Scene.  179 

encampment.  The  scene  was  new  to  me  and 
passing  strange.  It  baffled  description.  Many, 
very  many,  fell  down  as  men  slain  in  battle,  and 
continued  for  hours  together  in  an  apparently 
breathless  and  motionless  state,  sometimes  for  a 
few  minutes  reviving  and  exhibiting  symptoms 
of  life  by  a  deep  groan  or  a  piercing  shriek,  or 
by  a  prayer  for  mercy  fervently  uttered.  After 
lying  there  for  hours,  they  obtained  deliverance. 
The  gloomy  cloud  that  had  covered  their  faces 
seemed  gradually  and  visibly  to  disappear,  and 
hope  in  smiles  brightened  into  joy.  They 
would  rise  shouting  deliverance,  and  then  would 
address  the  surrounding  multitude  in  language 
truly  eloquent  and  impressive.  With  astonish- 
ment did  1  hear  men,  women,  and  children  de- 
claring the  wonderful  works  of  God  and  the 
glorious  mysteries  of  the  gospel." 

Deeply  impressed  by  all  he  had  seen  and 
heard,  this  godly^  minister  returned  to  his  peo- 
ple in  Bourbon  County  and  told  them  the  story 
of  what  he  had  witnessed.  ''The  congregation 
was  affected  with  awful  solemnity,  and  many  re- 
turned home  weeping."  Not  many  months  aft- 
er— August,  1801 — the  people  saw  for  them- 
selves similar  scenes  at  Cane  Eidge.  "The 
roads   were   crowded   with   wagons,    carriages, 


180  Cane  Bidge  Camp  Meeting, 

horses,  and  footmen  moving  to  the  solemn 
camp,"  says  Stone.  "It  was  judged,"  he  con- 
tinues, "by  military  men  on  the  ground  that 
between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  persons 
were  asseml3led.  Four  or  five  preachers  spoke 
at  the  same  time  in  different  parts  of  the  en- 
campment without  confusion.  The  INIethodist 
and  Baptist  preachers  aided  in  the  work,  and  all 
appeared  cordially  united  in  it.  They  were  of 
one  mind  and  soul;  the  salvation  of  sinners  was 
the  one  object.  We  all  engaged  in  singing  the 
same  songs,  all  united  in  prayer,  all  preached 
the  same  things.  .  .  .  The  numbers  con- 
verted will  be  known  only  in  eternity.  Many 
things  transpired  in  the  meeting  which  were  so 
much  like  miracles  that  they  had  the  same  effect 
as  miracles  on  unbelievers.  By  them  many 
were  convinced  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  and 
were  persuaded  to  submit  to  him.  This  meeting 
continued  six  or  seven  days  and  nights,  and 
would  have  continued  longer,  but  food  for  the 
sustenance  of  such  a  multitude  failed.  To  this 
meeting  many  had  come  from  Ohio  and  other 
distant  parts.  These  returned  home  and  dif- 
fused the  same  spirit  in  their  respective  neigh- 
borhoods. Similar  results  followed.  So  low 
had  religion   simk,  and   such  carelessness  had 


Uncommon  Itemed y  for  Uncommo7i  Need.  181 

universally  prevailed,  that  I  had  thought  noth- 
ing common  could  have  arrested  and  held  the 
attention  of  the  people." 

This  narrative  reads  like  the  accounts  of  White- 
field's  preaching  on  Boston  Common,  in  the  New 
World,  or  on  Blackheath,  in  England.  It  sounds 
like  the  stories  of  the  assemblies  to  whom  the 
Wesleys  spoke.  It  depicts  a  marvelous  and  star- 
tling awakening.  And  Mr.  Stone  is  right.  For 
such  an  uncommon  need  there  was  required  an 
uncommon  remedy.  An  effeminate  preacher  of 
the  academic  sort  in  the  present  day,  sitting 
down  to  analyze  such  a  work,  is  as  incapable  of 
comprehending  it  as  the  dainty  dandies  of  the 
days  of  Rehoboam  would  have  been  unable  to 
understand  the  miraculous  achievement  of  Gid- 
eon's three  hundred. 

The  good  work  ran  rapidly  through  all  the 
Cumberland  and  Ohio  country  until  every  settle- 
ment was  full  of  faith  and  fervor.  The  Presby- 
terians soon  dropped  the  camp  meetings,  but  the 
Methodists  took  them  up  and  turned  them  to 
blessed  account  in  'Hhe  winning  of  the  West." 

Fortunately  for  the  Methodists  and  for  the 
movement,  and  happily  for  the  country,  William 
McKendree,  a  very  strong  and  judicious  man, 
who  subsequently  became  a  bishop,  was  appointed 


182        Peaceable  Fruits  of  Righteousness, 

presiding  elder  on  the  Kentucky  District  in  1801. 
Under  bis  skillful  administration  camp  meetings 
were  made  of  great  service  in  the  upbuilding  of 
his  own  Church  and  in  the  promotion  of  the  re- 
vival in  the  "West. 

Of  course  the  revival  soon  developed  excesses 
and  irregularities,  and  again,  as  in  the  days  of 
"Wbitefield  and  Wesley,  the  futile  and  foolish  ef- 
fort was  made  to  get  rid  of  the  smoke  by  smoth- 
ering the  flame.  It  failed,  as  it  deserved  to  fail, 
and  the  purifying  fire  burned  on  despite  all  of 
its  own  defects  and  against  all  opposition. 

And  the  movement  vindicated  its  heavenly 
origin  by  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness 
which  it  yielded.  Dr.  George  A.  Baxter,  a  man 
of  most  sober  mind  and  even  temperament, 
wrote  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  from  the 
celebrated  Archibald  Alexander,  of  Princeton, 
as  follows:  "On  my  way  I  was  informed  by  set- 
tlers on  the  road  that  the  character  of  Kentucky 
travelers  was  entirely  changed,  and  that  they 
were  as  remarkable  for  sobriety  as  they  had  for- 
merly been  for  dissoluteness  and  immorality. 
And  indeed  I  found  Kentucky,  to  appearances, 
the  most  moral  place  I  had  ever  seen.  A  pro- 
fane expression  was  hardly  ever  heard.  A  re- 
ligious  awe    seemed  to   pervade   the    country. 


Confoundincj  Infidelity.  183 

Upon  the  wliole,  1  think  the  revival  in  Kentucky 
the  most  extraordinary  that  has  ever  visited  the 
Church  of  Christ;  and,  all  things  considered,  it 
was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  country  into  which  it  came.  Infidelity  was 
triumphant  and  religion  was  on  the  point  of  ex- 
piring. Something  extraordinary  seemed  neces- 
sary to  arrest  the  attention  of  a  giddy  people 
who  were  ready  to  conclude  that  Christianity 
was  a  fable  and  futurity  a  delusion.  The  re- 
vival has  done  it.  It  has  confounded  infidelity 
and  brought  numbers  beyond  calculation  under 
serious  impressions." 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  sermon  preached  in 
1803  to  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  Kentucky  by 
the  ItGV.  David  Kice,  who,  in  the  course  of  his 
discourse,  declared:  "Neighborhoods  noted  for 
their  vicious  and  profligate  manners  are  now  as 
much  noted  for  their  piety  and  good  order. 
Drunkards,  profane  swearers,  liars,  quarrelsome 
persons,  etc.,  are  remarkably  reformed." 

Most  naturally  reports  of  the  wonderful  work 
went  back  to  the  older  settlements  of  the  coun- 
try, whence  the  people  of  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory had  come  out,  and  these  reports  had  the  ef- 
fect of  intensifying  the  revival  fires  which  had 
been  burnino:  in  various  localities  in  the  East 


184  East  and  West 

since  1792,  and  to  fan  them  into  a  national  con- 
flagration. It  is  especially  interesting^  to  mark 
the  effect  which  the  great  revival  in  the  West 
had  on  the  Scotch-Irish  communities  in  Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,  and  to  ob- 
serve the  results  of  it  among  the  Methodists  of 
the  same  region  as  far  south  as  Georgia.  The 
wave  of  religious  enthusiasm  that  flowed  east- 
ward followed  exactly  the  route  over  which  the 
people  of  the  West  had  migrated,  and  proceed- 
ed directly  to  the  centers  in  the  East  from  which 
they  came  forth.  At  one  camp  meeting  on  the 
eastern  shore  of  Maryland  one  thousand  persons 
were  converted— and  the  meeting  lasted  only  five 
days  and  nights. 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  its  annual  review  of  the  state  of  reli- 
gion in  the  year  1800,  adverted  with  satisfaction 
to  the  work  in  the  AVest,  and  declared  that  "the 
state  and  prospects  of  vital  religion  in  our  coun- 
try are  more  favorable  and  encouraging  than  at 
any  period  within  the  last  forty  years."  In 
what  marked  contrast  with  this  cheerful  utter- 
ance was  the  gloomy  deliverance  of  1798 — just 
two  years  before! 

At  the  close  of  the  year  the  Methodists  re- 
ported 2,700  members  in  the  region  visited  by 


The  Cmnherland  Preshijterians.  185 

the  revival,  and  by  ISIO  their  numbers  in  that 
section  alone  had  risen  to  22,899.  The  Baptists 
also  showed  a  large  growth.  No  Church  in  all 
the  region  was  left  unblessed  and  unchanged 
by  it. 

Oat  of  the  great  revival  in  the  West  came  a 
new  ecclesiastical  organization,  the  very  name  of 
which — Cumberland  Presbyterian — marks  the 
date  and  place  of  its  birth.  In  the  course  of  the 
great  work  some  of  the  Presbyterians,  probably 
by  association  with  the  Methodists,  experienced 
a  change  of  certain  of  their  theological  opinions, 
notably  with  respect  to  the  Calvinistic  tenet  of 
unconditional  election  and  reprobation.  They 
also  observed  the  pulpit  power  of  some  of  the 
Baptist  and  Methodist  preachers  whose  educa- 
tional qualifications  were  below  the  standard  re- 
quired for  admission  into  the  Presbyterian  min- 
istry. Around  them  was  a  hungry  and  shep- 
herdless  multitude  needing  more  preachers,  by 
hundreds,  than  the  entire  available  supply  of  ed- 
ucated ministers.  They  proposed,  therefore,  a 
relaxation  in  both  their  Calvinistic  creed  and  the 
Presbyterian  requirements  for  entrance  into  the 
ministry.  To  all  this  most  of  the  synods  and  pres- 
byteries were  opposed.  The  issues  thus  joined 
led  eventually  to  the  separation  of  the  Cumber- 


186  A  Good  /Record. 

laud  Presbytery  from  the  rest  of  the  Church 
and  its  erection  into  another  denomination,  with 
its  revised  creed  and  modified  system  of  govern- 
ment. At  this  time  (1904)  negotiations  are 
pending  between  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America  and  that  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  looking  toward  the  union  of  the 
two  Churches.  If  this  union  shall  be  brought 
to  pass — which  seems  probable — it  will  be  be- 
cause the  "old  school"  Presbyterians  have  sof- 
tened their  creed  and  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rians no  longer  find  it  necessary  to  insist  on  their 
view  about  the  education  of  the  ministry.  The 
progress  of  both  religion  and  education  in  the 
United  States  in  a  hundred  years  has  modified 
the  original  positions  of  both  parties,  and  an  ad- 
justment of  their  difi'erences  seems  easy.  When, 
however,  the  name  "Cumberland  Presbyterian" 
disappears  from  the  list  of  American  Churches 
there  will  still  be  left  the  imperishable  record  of 
a  glorious  fidelity  and  apostolic  zeal  in  the  work 
of  saving  the  West  at  a  critical  time  in  our  na- 
tional history. 

In  reviewing  the  Wesleyan  movement  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  connection  of  that  nation- 
al revival  in  England  with  the  acquisition  of  the 


Political  Effeds.  187 

Northwest  Territory  from  France;  and  we  now 
have  seen  how  another  great  revival  in  Ameri- 
ca rescued  the  same  re<^ion  from  barbarism. 
The  Wesleyan  revival  helped  to  preserve  the 
vast  tract  for  the  possession  of  the  Great  Repub- 
lic, and  the  revival  of  ISOO  redeemed  its  first  oc- 
cupants from  the  sins  which  threatened  them 
with  destruction  and  menaced  the  republic  with 
revolution  and  dismemberment. 

In  passing,  however,  from  this  phase  of  the 
subject,  it  should  be  said  that  it  is  not  claimed 
for  the  revival  of  1800  that  it  accomplished  all 
that  was  necessary  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
West  at  the  moment,  or  that  it  finally  assured 
the  security  of  that  region  through  all  the  years 
which  have  followed.  But  it  averted  the  most 
serious  and  menacing  evils  of  that  period  and 
set  in  motion  influences  and  enterprises  which 
have  never  ceased  to  operate  on  behalf  of  the 
Christian  civilization  of  the  Western  country,  as 
the  frontiers  of  the  republic  have  moved  steadily 
toward  the  Pacific  and  as  wave  after  wave  of  im- 
migration has  followed  the  ever  moving  bounda- 
ry of  the  nation.  Without  it  the  West  would 
have  been  lost  to  the  Union  then,  and  but  for  the 
effects  of  the  revival  which  remain  to  this  day  the 
West  would  not  be  secure  now.     No  adequate 


188      Eastern  Colleges  and  Western  Seeds, 

history  of  the  Xo^th^Ye.st  can  omit  or  minimize 
this  factor  in  its  development. 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  confined  our  atten- 
tion to  the  work  in  the  West,  but  the  revival  and 
its  effects  were  not  limited  to  the  region  west  of 
the  Alleghanies.  In  the  East  it  was  less  tumul- 
tuous, but  scarcely  less  influential  and  beneficial. 
Indeed,  but  for  the  influence  of  the  revival 
movement  in  the  colleges  of  the  East,  much  of 
its  effects  in  the  West  would  have  been  lost  in 
the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Out  of  the  Eastern  colleges  came  the  re- 
ligious leaders  of  the  Western  Churches,  and 
without  the  revival  in  the  colleges  the  supply  of 
such  leaders  would  have  been  insufficient  for 
the  demand.  A  revival  of  national  extent  was 
thus  required  and  came  at  this  critical  hour  in 
our  country's  history.  An  omnipresent  and 
omniscient  Personality  seemed  to  brood  over 
the  whole  land,  reviving  the  work  of  grace  si- 
multaneously in  widely  separated  centers,  from 
which  it  moved  on  until  all  the  intervening 
spaces  were  covered  by  the  holy  influence,  thus 
rescuing  the  young  nation  from  prevalent  infi- 
delity and  immorality,  and  providing  moral  safe- 
guards for  its  future  welfare. 

Of  the  beginnino:  of  the  revival  in  Connecti- 


TJie  Revival  and  Ediicatio/ial  Institutions.  189 

cut  in  1792,  Dr.  E.  D.  Griffin  said;  "From  that 
date  I  saw  a  continued  succession  of  heavenly 
sprinklings,  until  I  could  stand  in  my  door  in 
New  Hartford  and  number  fifty  or  sixty  congre- 
gations laid  down  in  one  field  of  divine  w^onders." 

From  East  to  West,  from  North  to  South,  and 
through  all  the  Churches  the  movement  swept 
in  resistless  power  and  overwhelming  mercy. 

The  educational  institutions  of  the  country, 
in  which,  as  we  have  seen,  infidelity  was  previous- 
ly so  prevalent,  were  especially  favored  by  the 
heavenly  visitation.  In  1802  a  revival  in  Yale 
College  shook  the  institution  to  its  center,  and 
it  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  "whole  mass  of 
students  would  press  into  the  kingdom,"  and 
"nearly  all  the  converts  entered  the  ministry." 
This  was,  doubtless,  in  a  great  measure  the  re- 
sult of  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Timothy  Dwight,  who, 
from  the  moment  he  came  to  the  presidency 
(1795),  had  waged  incessant  w^arfare  on  the 
skeptical  tendencies  and  theories  of  the  hour 
until,  according  to  Lyman  Beecher,  then  a  stu- 
dent there,  "all  infidelity  skulked  and  hid  its 
head."  Four  distinct  revivals  occurred  during 
his  presidency,  resulting  in  the  conversion  of 
two  hundred  and  ten  young  men,  not  a  few  of 
whom  subsequently  bore  distinguished  parts  in 


190  Revivals  at  Yale, 

the  evangelization  of  the  AYest.  So  enduring 
was  his  influence  over  the  college  that  from  1812 
to  1837  there  were  "thirteen  special  revivals, 
or  one  every  two  years,  besides  several  other 
seasons  of  more  than  usual  religious  interest." 
In  that  revival  period  of  its  history  Yale  influ- 
enced the  life  of  the  republic  as  it  never  did 
before  or  since. 

During  the  same  time  all  the  existing  institu- 
tions of  learning  in  the  land,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Harvard,  were  similarly  blessed, 
and  out  of  the  revival  of  1800  a  number  of  new 
institutions  were  born. 

Special  mention  should  be  made  in  this  con- 
nection of  the  work  of  Samuel  John  Mills,  who 
joined  AYilliams  College,  Mass.,  in  the  spring 
of  1806,  and  who  ''had  been  prepared  by  the 
revival  of  Torringford,  Litchfield  County,  in 
1798-90."  He  was  a  very  remarkable  man,  and 
his  religious  career  was  directly  attributable  to 
the  revival  of  1800.  As  he  and  one  of  his  fel- 
lows were  about  to  leave  the  seminary  for  ac- 
tive service,  he  said:  "You  and  I,  brother,  are 
little  men,  but  before  we  die  our  influence 
must  be  felt  on  the  other  side  of  the  world." 
To  him  was  granted  only  five  years  of  activity 
in  public  service,  but  the  "little  man"  was  felt 


Mills  in  Williams  College,  191 

round  the  world  and  will  be  felt  to  the  end  of 
time.  Through  his  efforts  mainly,  a  revival 
spread  through  Williams  College  soon  after  his 
entrance  into  the  institution,  and  by  that  reviv- 
al gave  the  college  its  unique  place  in  the  re- 
ligious and  educational  history  of  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Griffin  says:  ^' Mills  had  devoted 
himself  to  the  cause  of  missions  from  the  com- 
mencement of  his  new  existence,  and  by  the  in- 
fluence of  that  revival  he  was  enabled  to  diffuse 
his  spirit  through  a  choice  circle  who  raised 
this  college  to  the  distinction  of  being  the  birth- 
place of  American  missions.     In  the  spring  of 

1808  they  formed  a  secret  society  to  extend  their 
influence  to  other  colleges  and  to  distinguished 
individuals  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
One  of  them  first  roused  the  missionary  ener- 
gies of  Pliny  Fisk,  who  afterwards  died  in  Pal- 
estine. In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  in  a  beau- 
tiful meadow  on  the  banks  of  the  Hoosac, 
these  young  Elijahs  prayed  into  existence  the 
embryo  of  American  missions.     In  the  fall  of 

1809  Mills,  Richards,  and  Robbins  carried  this  so- 
ciety to  Andover,  Avhere  it  roused  the  first  mis- 
sionary band  that  went  out  to  India,  in  1812, 
where  it  is  still  exerting  a  mighty  influence  on 
the  interests  of  the  world.     In  that  band  were 


192  American  Bible  Society. 

Gordon  liall  and  Luther  Rice,  of  this  college 
[and  Adoniram  Judson,  converted  at  Andover]. 
Richards  soon  followed  and  laid  his  bones  in  In- 
dia. Mills  and  his  coadjutors  were  the  means  of 
formins"  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  the  American  Bible  Soci- 
ety, the  United  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and 
the  African  School  under  the  care  of  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey ;  besides  all  the  im- 
petus given  to  domestic  missions,  to  the  Coloni- 
zation Society,  and  to  the  general  cause  of  benev- 
olence in  both  hemispheres." 

The  part  Mills  bore  in  bringing  to  birth  the 
American  Bible  Society  bears  so  immediately 
upon  the  work  in  the  West,  and  that  great  insti- 
tution has  told  so  mightily  on  the  history  of  the 
nation,  that  it  demands  special  treatment  at  this 
point  in  our  narrative  of  the  revival  of  1800,  in 
which  it  took  its  rise.  In  1813  he  and  John  F. 
Schermerhorn  were  sent  out  by  the  Massachu- 
setts Missionary  Society  on  a  mission  tour  of  the 
West.  They  traversed  the  whole  region  from 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  to  New  Orleans,  La.  They 
found  great  spiritual  destitution  and  undertook, 
as  far  as  they  could,  to  relieve  the  need— espe- 
cially by  the  distribution  of  the  Bible.  They 
made  a   graphic  report  when  they  returned, 


The  West  and  the  Methodists,  193 

which,  in  his  ''History  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  McMaster  summarizes  and  com- 
ments on  as  follows;  ' '  Wherever  they  went  they 
found  great  tracts  of  country  inhabited  by  from 
twenty  to  fifty  thousand  people,  in  which  there 
was  not  a  preacher  of  any  sect.     Where  there 
were  any  they  were  almost  invariably  Metho- 
dists.    Occasionally   they   were   Baptists,  but 
rarely   Presbyterians.     The   Discipline   of  the 
Methodists  was  especially  well  suited  to  the 
state  of  the  West.     Population  was  scattered. 
The  people  were  poor,  and  not  at  all  inclined  to 
form  societies  and  incur  the  expense  of  main- 
taining a  settled  minister.     A  sect,  therefore, 
which  marked  out  the  region  into  circuits,  put  a 
rider  on  each  and  bade  him  cover  it  once  a 
month,  preaching  here  to-day  and  there  to-mor- 
row, but  returning  at  intervals  to  each  commu- 
nity, provided  the  largest  amount  of  religious 
teaching  and  preaching  at  the  least  expense. 
This  was  precisely  what  the  Methodists  did,  and 
this  was  precisely  what  the  people  desired.    Such 
men  and  Avomen  as  made  any  profession  of  reli- 
gion were,  therefore,  very  generally  Methodists; 
but  the  West  was  too  vast  a  region  to  be  Chris- 
tianized by  any  one  sect,  and  the  great  body  of 
the  people  were  in  a  state  of  indifference.     The 
13 


194  Mills  and  Schermerhorn. 

sole  coaipetitors  of  the  Methodists  in  their  good' 
work  were  the  Baptists.  From  the  Presbyteri- 
ans they  had  little  to  fear.  The  General  Assem- 
bly and  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  did,  indeed, 
send  a  few  missionaries  each  year  into  certain 
parts  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee;  but 
their  labors  ended  in  six  or  eight  weeks,  and  the 
good  work  they  did  was  easily  undone  in  the  ten 
months  which  elapsed  before  they  came  again  or 
its  fruits  w^ere  gathered  by  other  sects.  .  .  . 
Taking  the  country  in  general,  Mills  and  Scher- 
merhorn  found  it,  in  spite  of  all  that  had  been 
done,  in  a  state  of  spiritual  darkness."  The  re- 
port of  these  heroic  young  men,  being  spread 
broadcast  among  the  Bible  societies  and  mis- 
sionary societies  of  the  East,  aroused  Eastern 
Churches  to  new  zeal;  and  in  the  summer  of 
1814  Mills  and  Daniel  Smith,  "fairly  loaded 
down  with  religious  literature,"  were  sent  on  a 
second  missionary  tour  to  the  West.  They  car- 
ried with  them'' 700  English  Bibles,  5,000  New 
Testaments  in  French,  15,000  tracts,  and  great 
bundles  of  sermons  and  pamphlets — all  contrib- 
uted by  the  Bible  and  tract  societies  of  New  En- 
gland and  the  Middle  States. "  But  the  work  was 
found  to  be  almost  infinitely  beyond  their 
strength  and  resources.    Since  the  first  visit  con- 


The  Greatest  Enterprise  in  America.      195 

ditions  had  grown  worse  by  reason  of  the  im- 
mense volume  of  immigration  which  poured  dai 
ly  into  the  great  Mississippi  basin.  After  going 
over  the  field  the  second  time.  Mills  expressed 
the  deliberate  opinion  that  there  were,  in  1815, 
76,000  families  between  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains and  the  Mississippi  River  destitute  of  the 
Bible.  This  appalling  destitution  led  him,  on 
his  return  in  the  summer  of  1815,  to  propose  to 
the  societies  of  the  East  the  organization  of  a 
National  Bible  Society,  with  auxiliary  societies 
in  every  city  and  town.  The  proposal  met  with 
general  favor  and  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  by  a  convention  of 
delegates  from  twenty-eight  Bible  Societies,  as- 
sembled in  the  city  of  New  York,  May  8, 1816. 
This  greatest  Christian  enterprise  of  America 
is,  therefore,  directly  traceable  to  the  great  re- 
vival of  1800. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  great  philanthropic  and 
religious  institution  which  it  brought  into  being. 
It  was  one  of  the  conspicuous  characteristics  of 
this  revival  that  it  produced  almost  all  of  those 
great  missionary  and  evangelistic  organizations 
which  have  since  done  so  much  good  for  our  own 
and  other  lands.  To  this  period  ])Ciong,  besides 
the  great  missionary  societies,  the  American 


196  Religious  Periodicals, 

Tract  Society  and  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union. 

The  revival  of  1800  marks  also  the  era  of  the 
beginning  of  the  religious  periodicals  of  Amer- 
ica, which  hare  a  greater  prominence  and  power 
than  has  the  religious  press  of  any  other  land. 
Thomas  Prince  published  the  first  periodical  of 
this  kind  in  the  New  World,  It  was  called 
The  Christian  History^  and  was  published 
weekly  in  1744-45,  to  give  accounts  of  the  re- 
vival of  religion  in  Great  Britain  and  the  colo- 
nies at  that  time.  Like  John  the  Baptist,  it 
was  a  forerunner,  but  died  without  posterity 
or  a  successor.  But  with  the  revival  of  1800 
came  a  great  troop  of  religious  papers,  begin- 
ning with  the  Evangelical  Magazine^  at  Hart- 
ford in  1800,  followed  by  many  others  in  rapid 
succession,  until  by  January,  1828,  there  were 
thirty-seven  religious  papers  in  the  United 
States.  One  of  them,  the  Christian  Advocate^ 
the  organ  of  the  Methodists,  published  in  New 
York,  had  a  weekly  circulation  of  fifteen  thou- 
sand copies,  which,  according  to  a  statement  in 
McMaster's  '^  Ilistory  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,^'  was  the  largest  circulation  which  had 
then  been  ''reached  by  any  newspaper  in  the 
world,  the  London  Times  excepted." 


Constituting  a  New  Era,  19? 

It  was  perhaps  due  in  a  ^reat  measure  to  the 
organizations  and  periodicals  which  sprang  from 
the  revival  that  it  continued  longer  than  any  of 
the  revivals  which  had  preceded  it  in  America, 
and  that  it  tended,  more  than  did  all  previous 
movements,  to  fix  permanently  the  evangelistic 
type  of  American  Christianity.  '*It  was,"  as 
Leonard  AYoolsey  Bacon  has  truly  said,  "the 
beginning  of  a  long  period  of  vigorous  and 
'abundant  life,'  moving  forward  not,  indeed, 
with  even  and  unvarying  flow,  yet  with  contin- 
uous current,  marked  with  those  alternations  of 
exaltation  and  subsidence  which  seem,  whether 
for  evil  or  for  good,  to  have  become  a  fixed 
characteristic  of  American  Church  history." 
Albert  Barnes  said:  ''That  day  which  shall 
convince  the  great  body  of  professing  Chris- 
tians of  the  reality  and  desirableness  of  revivals 
will  constitute  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  reli- 
gion, and  will  precede  manifestations  of  power 
like  that  of  Pentecost."  The  revival  of  1800 
did  so  convince  the  great  majority  of  American 
Churchgs,  and  it  has  been  followed  by  a  pente- 
costal  era. 

Another  characteristic  of  this  revival  was  that, 
unlike  the  great  awakening  and  the  Wesleyan 
revival,  it  w^as  directed  by  no  great  leader  or 


198     Timothy  Duight  and  Francis  Ashury, 

group  of  leaders.      This  was  as  might  have 
been  expected.     Notwithstanding  the  gloom  of 
the  period  in  which  it  began,  there  were  more 
men  in  the  United  States  prepared  for  service 
in  such  a  work  than  were  in  England  and  the 
colonies  in  the  days  of  the  Wesleys,  Whitefield, 
Edwards,  and  the  Tennents.    It  began  in  a  tin;ie 
of  dearth,  but  not  in  a  time  of  utter  desolation. 
There  were,  therefore,  more  eminent  workers 
and   fewer  preeminent   leaders.     Perhaps  the 
most    nearly    approaching   leadership    in    the 
movement  were  Timothy  Dwight,  the  President 
of  Yale  College,  and  Francis  Asbury,  the  bach- 
elor Bishop  of  the  Methodists.     The  former 
broke  the  back  of  French  infidelity  and  drove 
skepticism  from  the  colleges,  and  the  latter  su- 
perintended the  Methodist  movement,  which  set 
in  motion  an  army  of  itinerant  evangelists  from 
the  easternmost  shores  of  New  England  to  the 
farthest  western  frontier.     The  former  is  justly 
celebrated  for  his  exalted  worth  and  invaluable 
services;  the  latter  is  little  known  or  apprecia- 
ted beyond  the  limits  of  the  denomination  which 
he  served  so  long  and  faithfully.    When  White- 
field  died,  in  1770,  he  was  probably  known  by 
sight  to  more  Americans  than  was  any  other 
man,  and  the  same  might  be  said  of  Asbury  in 


A  Great  It  trie  rem  t.  199 

1S16,  "when  he  passed  away  at  the  home  of  his 
old  friend,  George  Arnold,  of  Spottsylvania, 
Ya.  He  had  covered  the  whole  length  of  the 
Atlantic  coast  more  times  than  had  Whitefield 
at  his  death,  and  sixty  times  he  had  crossed  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  visiting  the  great  Missis- 
sippi basin,  a  region  into  which  Whitefield 
never  penetrated.  He  began  his  itinerant  min- 
istry at  seventeen  and  ended  it  in  his  seventy- 
first  year,  and  during  those  fifty-four  years  it  is- 
estimated  that  he  averaged  a  sermon  or  an  ex- 
hortation a  day.  He  preached  in  the  United 
States  forty-five  years,  and  his  journeyings 
through  the  country  during  those  years  were 
equal,  upon  an  average,  to  the  circuit  of  the 
globe  every  five  years — "and  this  by  private 
conveyance,  mainly  horseback."  Of  him,  quite 
as  much  as  of  Whitetield,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that, 
"moving  up  and  down  the  Atlantic  coast  like  a 
shuttle,  he  wove  together  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  and  contributed  much  to  the  creation  of 
a  national  spirit." 

With  all  these  facts  in  mind,  let  us  ask.  Is  it 
possible  to  overestimate  the  value  of  the  great 
revival  of  1800  to  the  Great  Republic?  In 
its  holy  fires  heterogeneous  and  discordant  ele- 
ments were  melted  and  then  molded  by  its  or- 


200  Ufiiffjing  the  Nation. 

ganizations  to  a  common  type.  Thereby  the 
unity  of  the  nation  was  preserved  and  pro- 
moted. 

If  such  a  revival  of  religion  had  not  come, 
opportunity  and  temptation  would  have  been 
presented  for  any  number  of  Aaron  Burrs  to 
work  schemes  of  disintegration  and  dismember- 
ment in  the  West.  But  by  the  revival  forces 
of  national  unity  were  created,  which  operated 
to  the  saving  of  the  nation  then  and  to  its  prog- 
ress at  a  later  time. 

But  for  the  national  unity,  thus  secured,  the 
subsequent  war  with  Mexico  a  half  century 
later,  and  the  whole  history  of  "the  winning  of 
the  West,"  would  have  had  a  different  culmina- 
tion. Instead,  therefore,  of  an  unbroken  An- 
glo-Saxon civilization,  stretching  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  we  should  have  seen,  doubtless,  a  Latin 
type  of  life  and  government  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, with  all  that  such  a  type  implies.  The 
great  revival  of  1800  was  the  menstruum  by 
which  dissimilar  and  antagonistic  elements  were 
made  to  run  together  as  a  sound  composite. 

Moreover,  it  carried  the  nation  safely  through 
the  period  when  the  recent  disestablishment  of 
all  the  Churches  had  deprived  them  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  State,  and  had  thrown  them  wholly 


A  Blessed  Divorce.  201 

upon  the  maintenance  supplied  by  voluntary  be- 
nevolence. Many  supposed  that  with  the  utter 
separation  of  Church  and  State  religion  would 
be  starved,  and  that,  religion  perishing,  govern- 
ment would  fall  beneath  the  assaults  of  univer- 
sal godlessness.  And  such  would  have  been  the 
fate  of  a  godless  republic.  But  the  revival 
opened  the  hidden  fountains  of  benevolence, 
and  not  only  were  the  local  Churches  sustained* 
but  organized  charities  of  far-reaching  benevo- 
lence were  founded,  and  there  v/as  thus  inaugu- 
rated an  era  of  princely  giving  unprecedented 
for  generosity  in  the  annals  of  nations.  Church 
and  State  were  thus  happily  put  asunder,  never 
to  be  joined  again  in  that  unholy  wedlock  of  a 
State  religion  which  always  breeds  persecution 
and  corruption,  to  the  reproach  of  religion  and 
the  dishonor  of  government.  ~And  the  divorce 
was  accomplished  without  injury  to  Christianity 
or  shock  to  the  civil  organization;  nay,  rather 
to  the  advantage  of  both. 

Disestablishment,  at  the  outset  of  colonial 
history,  woukl  have  endangered  religion  among 
the  colonists;  but  the  continuance  of  a  State 
Church  in  any  one  of  the  States,  after  the  Great 
Republic  was  organized,  would  have  been  a  ca- 
lamity to  both  Church  and  State.     And  if  it  had 


202  A  Transition  Made  Easy. 

been  proposed  to  establish  any  one  Church  for 
the  entire  nation,  the  Federal  Union  would  have 
been  forestalled  by  the  mere  proposal.  It  was 
therefore  of  the  last  importance  that  disestab- 
lishment should  come,  and  that  it  should  come 
wdthout  a  jarring  controversy  or  an  alienating 
contention.  The  transition  was  made  easy  by 
the  great  revival  of  1800.  It  is  impossible  to 
see  how  the  passage  could  have  been  made  so 
smoothly  and  successfully  without  the  revival. 
On  the  bosom  of  a  gracious  flood  of  brotherly 
love  and  Christian  benevolence  it  carried  the  na- 
tion over  this  perilous  period,  when  religion 
might  otherwise  have  been  suffocated  by  State 
support  or  killed  by  popular  neglect. 

And  men  now  saw  clearly  demonstrated  that 
the  Church,  the  Bride  of  the  Lamb,  finds  in  the 
providence  of  the  Bridegroom  and  in  the  devo- 
tion of  her  children  of  faith  a  more  generous 
and  reliable  support  than  the  coffers  of  kings 
contain  or  the  treasuries  of  States  will  supply. 
The  Church  was  now  finally  and  successf  ull}^  di- 
vorced from  the  civil  government,  and  scorned 
to  ask  alimony  of  any  sort.  What  God  hath 
put  asunder,  let  no  man  join  together. 


VIL 
THE  REVIVAL  OF  1858. 


The  lay  element  was  prominent  in  this  revival.  The 
workers,  mostly,  were  laymen.  From  the  beginning 
ministers  of  the  gospel  cheerfully  stood  by  and  saw  the 
principal  share  of  labor  in  the  hands  of  their  lay  breth- 
ren.— Henry  C.  Fish,  in  ^'Handbook  of  Revivals.'" 

As  the  immediate  result  of  the  revival  of  1857-58  it 
has  been  estimated  that  one  million  members  were 
added  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Churches.  But  the  ul- 
terior result  was  greater.  This  revival  was  the  intro- 
duction to  a  new  era  of  the  nation's  spiritual  life.  It 
was  the  training  school  for  a  force  of  lay  evangelists  for 
future  work,  eminent  among  whom  is  the  name  of 
Dwight  Moody;  and,  like  the  great  awakening  of  1740, 
it  was  the  providential  preparation  of  the  American 
Church  for  an  immediatel}'- impending  peril,  the  gravity 
of  which  there  were  none  at  the  time  far-sighted  enough 
to  predict.  Looking  backward,  it  is  instructive  for  us 
to  raise  the  question  how  the  Church  would  have  passed 
through  the  decade  of  the  sixties  without  the  spiritual 
reenforcement  that  came  to  it  amid  the  pentecostal 
scenes  of  1857  and  1853, — Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon,  in 
'  'History  of  A  me  rican  Christian ity. ' ' 

-The  spirit  of  philanthropy  more  and  more  pervades 
the  Church.  Sometimes  this  appears  in  corporate  ac- 
tion, and  often  in  individual  consecration.  Wealth  is 
poured  out  in  abundance  in  the  founding  of  institutions 
of  healing  and  mercy.  Men  who  make  but  little  pro- 
fession of  Christianity  are  touched  by  the  genius  of  the 
gospel,  and  vie  with  each  other  in  providing  for  them- 
selves a  monument  better  far  than  sculptured  stone  or 
storied  urn. — Bishop  J.  F.  Hurst,  in  '^ Short  History  of  the 
Christian  Chu  rch . ' ' 

Before  and  after  an  engagement  our  camp  fires  were 
the  x^lace  of  song  and  thanksgiving,  and  many  were 
converted  who  still  attest  that  God  was  with  us. — Bishop 
John  C.  Keener,  of  the  Methodist  Fpisco'pal  Church,  South, 
who  was  a  Superintendent  of  Chaplains  in  the  Confederate 
Armies  West  of  the  Mississippi.' 

(204) 


VII. 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  1858. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  chapter, 
the  great  revival  of  1800  continued  through 
many  years,  and  marked  a  distinct  advance  in  the 
revivalistic  methods  of  the  American  Churches. 
Henceforth  such  methods  were  almost  univer- 
sally accepted,  and  by  them  there  was  a  con- 
stant ingathering  of  souls.  By  consequence  the 
Churches  enjoyed,  from  1800  to  1810,  an  extraor- 
dinary period  of  prosperity.  For  many  years 
during  this  period  there  were  added  as  many 
as  forty  thousand  members  annually.  Each 
year's  increase  was  nearly  equal  to  the  entire 
number  of  converts  in  the  great  awakening. 
And  this  amazing  annual  increase  was  secured 
from  a  comparatively  small  population,  the  to- 
tal population  of  the  United  States  being  only 
5,305,937  in  1800,  and  barely  exceeding  17,000,- 
000  souls  in  1840.  The  growth  of  the  Churches 
rapidly  outran  the  growth  of  the  nation. 

The  growth  of  the  Methodist  Church  during 
those  forty  years  reveals  the  progress  of  reli- 
gion throughout  the  country  as  a  whole.     In 

(205) 


206  Prosperous  Churches, 

ISOO  the  number  of  Methodists  in  the  United 
States  was  64,89tl:,  and  their  preachers  num- 
bered 287.  In  1840  the  membership  had  in- 
creased to  7tl:9,216,  and  they  had  3,557  itinerant 
preachers  and  5,856  local  preachers.  The  growth 
of  this  Church  alone  showed,  therefore,  an  av- 
erasre  annual  increase  of  above  17,000  members. 
Some  of  this  large  and  constant  increase  was 
attributable  to  immigration  from  the  British 
Isles,  where  the  Wesleyan  revival  was  still  af- 
fecting for  good  the  new  republic  by  the  con- 
verts made  and  sent  by  it  to  the  AVestern  World. 
But  the  greater  part  is  explained  by  the  contin- 
uous revivals  which  were  going  on  in  every  part 
of  the  country. 

The  young  organization  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  also  grew  rapidly,  and  the  Church 
organized  by  Alexander  Campbell,  which  came 
to  birth  about  the  same  time,  developed  at  a 
speedy  rate. 

The  older  denominations,  of  course,  shared 
largely  in  the  fruits  of  the  revivals  which  pre- 
vailed during  this  prosperous  period. 

The  disposition  manifested  by  all  the  Churches 
to  organize  benevolent  enterprises  and  philan- 
thropic institutions,  for  the  advancement  of 
Christianity,  took  visible  form  in  the  multipli- 


^   Evangelical  Organizations,  207 

cation  of  missionary  and  tract  societies,  pub- 
lishing plants,  and  educational  establishments. 
This  period  was  an  organizing  as  well  as  an 
evangelizing  era  in  the  history  of  Anglo-Saxon 
Christianity. 

A  little  later  there  came  to  pass  two  organi- 
zations, which  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  re- 
vival of  1858  that  they  should  receive  special 
mention  at  this  point  in  our  narrative.  They 
sprang  from  the  spirit  of  Christian  unity  which, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  great  awakening  in 
America  and  the  Wesleyan  revival  in  Great 
Britain,  had  characterized  the  evangelistic 
movement  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic — a 
spirit  that  waxed  stronger  as  the  continuous  re- 
vivals of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  centu- 
ry went  on  throughout  the  English-speaking 
world.  Both  began  in  London,  yet  both  were 
destined  to  influence  in  a  great  measure  Amer- 
ica. One  was  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation, organized  in  London  in  18M,  and  the 
other  was  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  a  sort  of 
ecumenical  council  of  evangelical  Christendom, 
which  held  its  first  meeting  in  the  same  great 
metropolis  in  1846. 

But,  while  Christian  organizations  multiplied 
and  local  revivals  prevailed  at  many  points 


208  Notable  Preachers, 

throughout  the  country  for  many  years  after 
the  great  revival  of  1800^  there  was  no  revival 
of  continental  extent  until  the  year  1858.  Nor 
were  there  any  religious  leaders  whose  efforts 
and  influence  affected  the  whole  nation  as  did 
White  field,  Edwards,  and  the  Wesley s.  Here 
and  there  were  men  of  great  power — such  as 
Edward  N.  Kirk,  of  Boston,  Edward  Payson,  of 
Portland,  Me.,  John  Summerfield,  and  Peter 
Cartwright,  the  Methodist  pioneer  in  the  West. 
Cartwright  received  over  ten  thousand  persons 
into  the  Church,  and  Summerfield,  dm'ing  his 
brief  and  brilliant  career,  was  justly  celebrated 
and  widely  useful.  But  none  of  these  attained 
to  the  height  of  national  leadership.  The  two 
men  who  perhaps  during  this  period  most  near- 
ly approached  such  leadership  were  Charles  G. 
Finney  and  Asahel  Nettleton.  The  former  lived 
longer  and  was  far  more  widely  known  than  the 
latter.  The  latter  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  Col- 
lege when  Timothy  D wight  was  its  President, 
and  was  a  man  of  earnest  spirit  and  of  great 
power. 

Finney  began  life  as  a  lawyer,  but  abandoned 
that  profession  for  the  ministry  in  1824,  and 
labored  with  great  success  as  an  evangelist  until 
1835,  when  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  Ober- 


Two  Great  Evangelists.  209 

lin  College,  Ohio.  He,  however,  continued  to 
evangelize,  at  intervals,  in  New  York  and  else- 
where. The  three  years  from  1848  to  1851  he 
spent  in  England,  where  he  was  warmly  re- 
ceived and  Videly  useful.  In  1852  he  became 
President  of  Oberlin  College,  and  there  he 
died,  in  1875.  Excepting  his  visit  to  the  Brit- 
ish Isles,  his  evangelistic  tours  w^ere  confined, 
in  the  main,  to  points  in  the  States  of  New 
York,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio. 

Nettleton  prepared  himself  for  the  work  of  a 
foreign  missionary,  but  this  purpose  was  frus- 
trated by  the  feebleness  of  his  health.  His 
evangelistic  efforts  were  put  forth,  for  the  most 
part,  in  New  England  and  New  York,  although 
he  spent  the  two  years  from  1827  to  1829  in  Vir- 
ginia, seeking  health.  In  1831  he  visited  En- 
gland, Ireland,  and  Scotland. 

These  two  men  were  truly  great  evangelists, 
but  no  general  movement  of  continental  extent 
followed  from  their  ministry.  They  both  ren- 
dered service  to  the  evangelical  cause  in  Great 
Britain — the  first  return  of  the  sort  that  Amer- 
ica made  for  the  services  of  Whitefield  in  the 
revival  of  1740.  They  were  products  as  well  as 
promoters  of  the  religious  prosperity  which  pre- 
14 


210  Increasiufj  Greed  and  Decreasing  Piefi/. 

vailed  in  the  UDitecl  States  during  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  occupied  a  con- 
spicuous place  on  the  plane  of  general  spiritual 
elevation  around  them — eminent,  but  not  pre- 
eminent. 

During  this  period  of  religious  prosperity  the 
young  nation  increased  in  wealth  and  power, 
and  as  gains  grew  godliness  declined.  Men 
forgot  God  in  pursuit  of  gold.  Political  de- 
bates became  rancorous,  and,  after  the  adiinn- 
istration  of  President  Monroe,  the  subjects  of 
these  controversies  were  mainly  financial  meas- 
m-es  and  fiscal  policies.  The  heart  of  the 
young  republic  was  set  on  wealth,  and  the  zeal 
of  the  people  for  religion  became  lukewarm. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  President  Jack- 
son and  the  xSational  Bank  had  their  struggle, 
and  the  financial  panic  of  Martin  Van  Bur  en's 
day  ensued.  Then  came  the  exciting  times  of 
the  "Harrison  Freshet,"  followed  by  a  period  of 
plenty  and  the  first  impulses  of  national  ambi- 
tion. The  slavery  question  began  to  be  agi- 
tated, and  the  annexation  of  Texas  became  a 
national  issue.  To  this  period  belongs  also  the 
Mexican  War,  whereby  the  area  of  the  national 
domain  was  gi*eatly  extended — an  extension 
which  drew  after  it  negotiations  which,  bv  iiur- 


A  Financial  Cvaah,  211 

chase  from  Mexico  and  a  treaty  with  Great  Brit- 
ain, completed  the  area  of  continental  United 
States  as  it  stands  to-daj.  ]Mean while  gold  was 
discovered  in  California,  railroads,  telegraph 
and  steamship  lines  multiplied,  harvests  were 
plenteous,  and  commerce  was  prosperous.  Rich- 
es increased,  and  multitudes  set  their  hearts 
upon  them.  The  nation  was  forgetting  God, 
fighting  the  battles  of  greed,  and  fanning  the 
fires  of  sectional  animosity.  Political  strife 
grew  more  bitter,  and  the  great  Civil  War  drew 
on  apace.  In  the  midst  of  all  its  plenty  and 
pride,  the  nation  woke  one  morning  to  find  that 
the  glory  was  all  a  dream.  While  speculation 
was  at  fever  heat,  and  when  men  were  wild 
with  a  mania  for  money-making,  there  came  a 
financial  crash  unprecedented  in  the  nation's  his- 
toIyT^In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  riches  of 
"many  took  wings  and  flew  away.  Bankrupt- 
cies, failures,  frauds,  and  defalcations  were  on 
every  hand,  and  the  hearts  of  men  failed  them 
for  fear.  It  was  the  repetition  of  the  old,  sad 
story  of  a  people  grown  great  by  godliness, 
then  gradually  departing  from  the  true  God  in 
the  worship  of  Mammon,  and  finally  prostrated 
by  its  evil  idolatry. 
And  now  that  the  wheels  of  industry  stood 


212  Backslidden  J  hut  Not  Apostate. 

still,  and  the  noisy  cries  of  greed  were  hushed, 
men  stopped  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  call- 
ing them  to  repentance.  And  they  heeded  the 
heavenly  call.  Another  revival  of  national  ex- 
tent began. 

It  did  not  begin  in  the  Churches,  nor  was  it 
brought  to  pass  by  the  preaching  of  some  long- 
neglected  doctrine  of  grace,  as  had  been  the 
case  in  all  the  national  revivals  that  had  pre- 
ceded it.  From  the  Eeformation,  in  the  days 
of  Martin  Luther,  each  successive  revival  had 
recovered  some  neglected  truth  which  had  been 
overlaid  by  mediaeval  superstition  or  metaphys- 
ical scholasticism.  But  w^hen  at  length  this 
work  of  the  rediscovery  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity had  reached  its  climax  in  Wesley^s 
preaching  of  a  universal  atonement,  the  witness 
of  the  Spirit,  and  Christian  perfection,  there 
was  nothing  of  the  long-lost  treasure  left  to  be 
exhumed.  X\\  that, was  required  was  the  faith- 
ful preaching  of  the  fully  recovered  gospel  to 
every  creature.  And  it  had  been  preached  with 
supernatural  power  in  America,  but  men  had 
for  a  time  neglected  it  that  they  might  get  gold 
and  live  riotously.  The  nation  was  backslidden, 
but  not  apostate  from  the  faith.  Men  knew  the 
truth;   even  the  layman  of   the  countinghouse 


The  Beghming  in  Fulton  Street.  213 

and  the  forum  knew  well  enough  the  gospel  of 
Christ's  salvation. 

And  hence  the  revival  of  1858  began  outside 
the  Churches,  in  the  center  of  the  nation's  com- 
merce. 

A  little  room  in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  the  very  midst  of  tlie  currents  of 
trade,  on  the  third  floor  of  the  "Consistory"  of 
the  old  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  in  Fulton 
Street,  was  thrown  open  for  a  weekly  noonday 
prayer  meeting.  At  first  the  "downtown  "  mis- 
sionary who  made  the  appointment  (Jeremiah 
Lanphier)  met  there  three  persons,  then  six, 
and  then  twenty.  At  the  fourth  meeting  they 
assembled  on  the  floor  below,  and  there  the 
Business  Men's  Prayer  Meeting  began  at  once 
to  attract  attention.  A  daily  meeting  became 
necessary  presently,  and  then  the  room  over- 
flowed with  attendants  on  the  services,  so  that  a 
second  and  a  third  room  in  the  same  building 
were  required  to  accommodate  the  people  who 
flocked  there.  The  seats  in  all  the  rooms  were 
filled,  and  even  the  entrances  and  passages  soon 
became  so  crowded  that  it  was  difilcult  for  any 
one  to  pass  in  or  out.  The  disappointed  multi- 
tudes who  went  away  because  they  could  not 
secure  room  there  demanded  another  place  of 


214  Meetings  MuUipUed. 

prayer,  and  tbe  old  John  Street  Methodist 
Church  and  lecture  room  were  both  opened 
for  noonday  prayer  meetings  every  day,  the 
services  being  imder  the  direction  of  a  commit- 
tee of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
These  rooms  also  overflowed.  Meetings  were 
then  multiplied  in  many  other  parts  of  the  city. 
The  good  work  thus  begun  in  New  York  quick- 
ly spread  to  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and  other 
cities  and  towns,  until  there  was  scarcely  a 
place  of  any  considerable  importance  in  the 
United  States  in  which  similar  services  were  not 
undertaken.  The  revival  prevailed  everywhere, 
without  human  leadership  or  concert  of  action, 
as  if  inspired  and  directed  by  the  overshadow- 
ing influence  of  a  superhuman  Personality. 

A  marked  feature  of  the  meetings  was  the 
fact  that  in  them  men  of  all  denominations 
united.  In  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  the  bonds 
of  peace  strong  men  bowed  together  in  earnest 
supplication  to  God  for  the  outpouring  of  the 
Spirit,  that  the  backsliding  of  the  nation  might 
be  healed. 

These  assemblies  became  so  notable  that  the 
secular  newspapers  felt  constrained  to  print  daily 
reports  of  them.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
use  of  the  secular  press  for  religious  ends,  which 


Pervasive  and  Persuasive.  215 

ever  since  has  been  continued,  to  the  elevation 
of  the  newspapers  and  to  the  advantage  of  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

Even  the  new  invention  of  the  telegraph  was 
employed  to  spread  the  news  of  salvation.  Fer- 
vent and  fraternal  messages  passed  between  the 
assemblies  of  different  cities.  Wayward  sons, 
recovered  from  prodigal  ways,  telegraphed  to 
anxious  parents  of  their  newly  found  joy. 
Brothers  and  sisters,  long  separated  from  each 
other  by  the  westward  movements  of  that  mi- 
gi-atory  generation,  exchanged  greetings  of 
gladness  and  renewed  affection. 

The  pervasive  and  persuasive  influence  filled 
the  marts  of  trade,  spread  to  the  rural  districts, 
and  penetrated  the  walls  of  schools  and  col- 
leges. It  went  everywhere,  and  affected  all 
classes. 

And  the  movement  proceeded  with  marvelous 
rapidity.  The  fire  was  scarcely  kindled  before 
the  country  was  all  ablaze  in  the  glorious  flame 
which  burned  away  the  dross  of  mammonism 
and  worldliness  from  thousands  of  lives. 

It  is  estimated  that  one  hundred  thousand 
conversions  occurred  within  the  short  space  of 
four  months,  and  that  during  the  first  year 
which  followed  the  beginning  of  the  work  four 


K 


216  In  the  South. 

hundred  thousand  souls  were  brought  to  Christ. 
Before  the  great  revival  ended,  it  is  said,  one 
million  members  were  added  to  the  Churches. 

The  work  in  the  North  was  begun  and  con- 
tinued in  the  cities  after  the  manner  already 
described.  In  the  South  there  were  no  large 
cities,  but  a  widely  scattered  rural  population, 
remote  from  both  the  perils  and  privileges  of 
urban  life.  The  results  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, therefore,  were  not  heralded  in  the  press 
nor  flashed  over  the  telegraph  wires,  as  was  the 
case  in  the  North.  But  they  w^ere  not  less 
abundant  and  blessed.  Indeed,  they  were,  in 
proportion  to  the  population,  greater  in  the 
South  than  in  any  other  section,  and  they  Avere 
achieved  in  the  main  by  the  Churches  andjn 
the  Churches. 

The  statistics  of  all  the  Churches  of  the  South 
are  not  accessible,  but  the  figures  of  one  which 
are  at  hand  may  be  taken  as  some  measure  of 
the  success  of  all  the  rest.  In  1844  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  had  been  divided,  and 
two  ecclesiastical  jurisdictions  were  set  up — one 
in  the  North  and  the  other  in  the  South.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  1858  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  had  gathered  in  a  twelve- 
month 43,388   members   and   probationers,   of 


Great  Growth,  217 

whom  10,117  were  negroes  and  110  were  In- 
dians. In  1859,  21,852  were  added;  and  in  1860, 
36,182  more.  When  the  war  between  the  States 
began,  this  Church  had  on  its  rolls  629,155  mem- 
bers in  full  connection,  of  whom  171,857  were 
negroes  and  3,395  were  Indians.  Its  proba- 
tioners numbered  119,613,  among  them  being 
35,909  negroes  and  771  Indians.  In  fifteen 
years  (from  1815  to  1860)  its  membership  in- 
creased from  450,000  to  630,000  (using  round 
numbers),  or  180,000  souls.  That  meant  many 
glorious  revivals,  especially  during  the  years 
1858,  1859,  and  1860.  Its  sister  Churches  in  the 
same  section  were  proportionately  prosperous, 
especially  the  great  Baptist  denomination,  which 
divides  so  nearly  with  the  Methodists  the  rural 
communities  of  the  South.  It  may  be  reason- 
ably doubted  if,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War,  on  any  similar  area  in  the  English-speak- 
ing world  having  a  population  no  denser  than 
that  of  the  South,  there  were  as  few  infidels 
and  as  many  evangelical  Christians.  Of  all  the 
sections  of  the  Union,  it  is  most  solidly  English 
in  its  type  and  evangelical  in  its  religion. 

It  has  been  something  more  than  a  coinci- 
dence that  for  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
the  2:reat  revivals  in  the  United  States  have  been 


218  Across  the  Sea. 

simultaneous  with  similar  movements  in  the 
British  Isles.  When  the  great  awakening  was 
in  progress,  in  1740,  the  Wesleyan  revival  in 
England  had  already  begun.  When  the  revival 
of  1800  was  stirring  the  West  and  saving  the 
nation,  the  revival  of  the  Haldanes  in  Scotland 
was  in  progress,  and  the  Wesleyan  revival,  at 
its  second  flood,  was  overflowing  upon  the  New 
World;  and  now,  when  the  revival  of  1858  was 
burning  from  ocean  to  ocean,  there  was  a  ''great 
year  of  grace"  throughout  Great  Britain,  and 
the  work  continued  daring  the  year  1859.  It 
is  estimated  that  in  Wales,  with  a  population  of 
only  a  little  more  than  a  million,  there  were 
30,000  to  35,000  conversions,  and  it  is  known 
that  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Church  added  25,000 
to  the  roll  of  its  membership.  In  Belfast,  Ire- 
land, the  inhabitants  of  which  numbered  130,- 
000  souls,  there  were  10,000  converts.  In  the 
nine  counties  which  compose  the  Province  of 
Ulster,  the  most  northern  district  of  Ireland, 
there  were  306  congregations  that  were  visited 
by  the  revival,  and  10,630  new  communicants 
were  added  to  the  Churches.  Rev.  Dr.  Baron 
Stowe,  of  Boston,  witnessed  the  revival  in  Ire- 
land in  1859,  and  in  a  letter  published  in  1860 
said  of  it:  "Many  hundreds,  not  only  from  the 


''Catching:'  219 

unblessed  districts  of  Ireland  but  also  from  En- 
gland and  Scotland,  and  even  from  the  Conti- 
nent, hastened  to  the  scene  of  the  Spirit's  won- 
der-working; and  while  many  remained  longer 
than  they  intended,  cooperating  with  the  over- 
tasked laborers,  few  returned  without  the  con- 
viction that  Ulster  was  pervaded  by  the  power 
of  the  Highest." 

Great  meetings  were  held  in  Exeter  Hall  and 
Surrey  Gardens  to  reach  the  unchurched  masses. 
The  Saturday  Review^  profanely  deriding  the 
work,  testified  to  its  extensiveness  by  declaring: 
"Undoubtedly  the  thing  is  catching." 

It  means  much  for  the  Great  Republic  when 
results  like  these  are  achieved  in  the  British 
Isles.  When  England,  in  the  days  of  Pitt,  was 
contending  with  France  for  the  possession  of 
America,  the  "Great  Commoner"  said  he  "would 
conquer  America  in  Germany."  It  has  been  the 
way  of  an  overruling  Providence  to  make  many 
conquests  for  the  heavenly  kingdom  in  the. 
United  States  by  operations  of  grace  in  Great 
Britain.  It  was  so  in  1858,  when  the  great  re- 
vival throughout  the  English-speaking  world 
did  so  much  for  our  perturbed  country,  then  on 
the  verge  of  the  greatest  and  most  terrible  civil 
war  that  human  history  has  ever  recorded. 


220  ''In  All  Circles:' 

But  while  indirect  benefits  of  the  highest 
value  to  the  republic  came  from  the  revival 
across  the  sea,  they  were  far  less  than  the  di- 
rect and  immediate  results  of  the  great  meet- 
ings within  its  own  borders.  In  his  "Hand- 
book of  Revivals'"*  Rev.  Henry  C.  Fish,  D.D., 
gives  a  pen  picture  of  the  work,  wdiich  he  ex- 
tracted from  one  of  the  religious  journals  of 
March,  1858.  It  is  so  vivid  and  comprehensive 
that  no  apology  is  needed  for  its  incorporation 
into  this  narrative.  The  writer  says:  "  Such  a 
time  as  the  present  was  never  known  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  for  revivals.  The  prostra- 
tion of  business,  the  downfall  of  Mammon — the 
great  god  of  worship  to  the  multitudes  in  this 
land,  both  in  and  out  of  the  Church — the  sin- 
fulness and  vanity  of  earthly  treasures  as  the 
supreme  good,  have  come  home  to  the  hearts 
and  consciences  of  the  millions  in  our  land  with 
a  power  that  seems  irresistible.  Revivals  now 
cover  our  very  land,  sweeping  all  before  them 
as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  exciting  the  earnest 
and  simultaneous  cry  from  thousands,  'What 
shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ? '  They  have  taken  hold 
of  the  community  at  large  to  such  an  extent  that 
now  they  are  the  engrossing  theme  of  conver- 
sation in  all  circles  of  society.     Ministers  seem 


From  Maine  to  California.  221 

baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  preach  with 
new  power  and  earnestness,  bringing  the  truth 
home  to  the  conscience  and  life  as  rarely  be- 
fore. Meetings  are  held  for  prayer,  for  exhor- 
tation, and  for  conversion,  with  the  deepest  in- 
terest and  the  most  astonishing  results.  Not 
only  are  they  held  in  the  church  and  from  house 
to  house,  but  in  the  great  marts  of  trade  and  cen- 
ters of  business.  Halls  are  selected,  where  men 
may  leave  their  worldly  cares  for  an  hour,  and 
by  multitudes,  without  form  or  ceremony,  drop 
in,  fall  on  their  knees  and  pray,  with  a  few 
words  of  exhortation  p.nd  entreaty,  and  then 
go  about  their  usual  business.  In  New  York 
there  is  a  most  astonishing  interest  in  all  the 
Churches,  seeming  as  if  that  great  and  popu- 
lous and  depraved  city  were  enveloped  in  one 
conflagi'ation  of  divine  influence.  Union  prayer 
meetings  are  held  in  the  principal  centers,  and 
here  thousands  on  thousands  gather  daily. 
Prayer  and  conference  meetings  are  held  in  re- 
tired rooms  connected  with  large  commercial 
houses,  and  with  the  best  effects.  The  large 
cities  and  towns  generally,  from  Maine  to  Cali- 
fornia, are  sharing  in  this  great  and  glorious 
work.  There  is  hardly  a  village  or  town  to  be 
found  where  a  special  divine  power  does  not 


222  The  Layman's  Day  Dawned, 

appear  to  be  displayed.  It  really  seems  as  if 
the  millennium  were  upon  us  in  its  glory." 

The  great  work  so  glowingly  described  in  this 
pen  picture  is  not  exaggerated  by  the  writer. 
A  crisis  was  at  hand,  and  a  great  revival  was 
the  supreme  need  of  the  hour.  It  came,  and 
from  it  issued  benefits  of  unspeakable  value  to 
the  republic.  Religion  was  invigorated,  and 
the  nation  strengthened  in  advance  of  the  per- 
ilous shock  to  the  whole  civil  system  which  was 
so  near  at  hand. 

The  working  forces  of  the  Churches  were  im- 
measurably increased.  The  revival  of  1858  in- 
augurated in  some  sense  the  era  of  lay  work  in 
American  Christianity.  Wesley's  system  of 
class  leaders,  exhorters,  and  local  preachers  had 
done  much  at  an  earlier  date  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, but  now  the  layman's  day  fully  dawned 
on  all  the  Churches.  No  nev/  doctrine  was 
brought  forward,  bat  a  new  agency  was  brought 
to  bear  in  spreading  the  old  truth  through  the 
efforts  of  men  who,  if  they  could  not  interpret 
the  Scriptures  with  precision  or  train  souls  to 
perfection,  could  at  least  help  inquiring  sinners 
to  find  the  Lord  by  relating  how  the}^  them- 
selves had  found  him.  Since  Christianity  is  a 
religion  of  experience,  this  lay  element  was  a 


Christian  Unity  Promoted,  223 

power  in  the  Apostolic  Charch,  of  whom  were 
St.  Stephen  and  St.  Luke.  Bat  it  dropped  out 
of  the  Church  when  Christianity,  ceasing  to  be 
an  experience,  w^as  practiced  only  as  a  pompous 
system  of  priestcraft  or  taught  as  an  abstruse 
philosophy  of  religion.  It  now  returned  in  the 
regeneration  of  a  nation. 

And  Christian  unity  w^as  again  promoted,  as 
it  had  been  by  the  great  awakening,  by  the 
Wesleyan  revival,  and  by  the  revival  of  1800. 
When  men  come  to  know  what  are  the  essen- 
tial truths  of  Christianity,  and  to  realize  these 
truths  in  personal  experience,  strife  about  non- 
essentials perishes  as  if  scorched  by  the  breath 
of  the  Almighty. 

Furthermore,  a  heavy  blow  w^as  delivered 
against  the  spirit  of  mammon.  The  panic  of 
1857  revealed  the  vanity  of  earthly  treasure, 
mid  the  revival  of  1858  emphasized  the  value  of 
the  true  riches.  The  demands  made  by  the 
claims  of  mercy  and  patriotism,  during  the  war 
that  followed  so  soon,  were  an  exercise  in  benev- 
olence which,  coupled  with  the  saving  lessons 
of  the  revival  that  preceded  it,  did  much  to  in- 
augurate that  era  of  princely  giving  which  has 
been  current  in  the  United  States  for  the  last 
thirty  years.     The  poor  and  middle  classes  were 


224  Philantliropj  Inspired. 

never  so  generous  as  Ibey  have  been  during  the 
last  forty  years,  and  the  opulent  pour  forth 
millions  on  e^ery  sort  of  benevolence.  In  the 
impoverished  South,  where  the  brunt  of  the 
conflict  of  arms  fell,  the  post-bellum  gifts  of  the 
poor  exceed  the  ante-bellum  generosity  of  the 
wealthy.  In  the  opulent  North,  where  the  des- 
olations of  war  scarcely  went,  the  bestowment 
of  millions  upon  philanthropy  has  become  too 
commcm  to  excite  surprise.  The  spirit  of  al- 
truism is  so  all- pervasive  that  men  who  do  not 
formally  yield  themselves  to  the  authority  of 
Christianity  are  unable  to  resist  the  constrain- 
ing atmosphere  which  it  has  thrown  around 
them.  In  thirty-two  years  (from  1871  to  1902) 
the  benefactions  to  educational  institutions 
alone  in  the  United  States  have  amounted  to 
$291,059,209. 

Again,  the  continuous  revivals  in  the  South- 
ern States,  from  1800  to  1860,  culminating  in 
the  great  revival  of  1858-59,  affected  the  negi-o 
population  so  benignly  as  to  give  security  from 
insurrection  during  the  war  and  great  help  in 
the  solution  of  the  "race  problem''  since  1865. 
Never  in  the  history  of  the  race  were  so  many 
Africans  brought  to  Christ;  and,  after  all  sub- 
tractions from  this  sum  of  good  are  made  for  the 


Prejxtrinr/for  the  War,  225 

faults  and  sIds  of  the  Afro- American  people,  it 
remains  true  that  the  sons  of  Ham  have  attained 
their  highest  elevation  in  the  United  States,  and 
that  the  Christian  Churches  of  the  country  have 
done  the  most  and  the  best  that  has  been  done 
for  them. 

Among  the  best  results  of  the  revival  of 
1858  must  be  reckoned  the  fact  that  thousands 
of  men  of  both  the  Federal  and  Confederate 
armies,  who  were  appointed  to  die,  were  con- 
verted by  it,  as  were  also  many  thousands  more 
who  were  destined  to  live  and  bless  the  country 
for  many  long  years  afterwards. 

The  piety  which  was  illustrated  in  the  lives  of 
many  general  officers,  and  the  consecration  com- 
mon among  the  rank  and  file,  made  possible 
those  great  revivals  in  the  camps  which  so  re- 
lieved the  gloom  of  the  dark  days  of  the  sixties, 
and  all  was  in  a  great  measure  the  outcome,  or 
perhaps  we  should  say  the  continuation,  of  the 
great  revival,  which  some  have  supposed  was 
interrupted  by  the  beginning  of  hostilities.  In 
that  most  interesting  volume  entitled  "Christ 
in  the  Camp"  Rev.  J.  William  Jones,  D.D.,  a 
chaplain  in  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
gives  a  beautiful  description  of  a  typical  scene 
in  the  Confederate  army  of  Virginia.  "Let  us 
15 


226  Clrrinf  in  ihe  Camj), 

go,*'  he  says,  "some  ])riglit  Sabbath  morning, 
to  that  cluster  of  tents  in  the  grove  across  the 
Massaponax,  not  far  from  Hamilton's  Crossing. 
Seated  on  the  rude  logs,  or  on  the  ground,  may 
be  seen  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  men, 
with  upturned  faces,  eagerl}^  drinking  in  the 
truths  of  the  gospel.  That  reverent  worshiper 
that  kneels  in  the  dust  during  prayer,  or  listens 
with  sharpened  attention  and  moist  eyes  as  the 
preacher  delivers  his  message,  is  our  beloved 
Commander -in  Chief,  General  Robert  E.  Lee; 
that  devout  worshiper  who  sits  at  his  side,  gives 
his  personal  attention  to  the  seating  of  the  mul- 
titude, looks  so  supremely  happy  as  he  sees  the 
soldiers  thronging  to  hear  the  gospel,  and  listens 
so  attentively  to  the  preaching,  is  'Stonewall' 
Jackson;  those  'wreaths  and  stars'  which  clus- 
ter around  are  w^orn  by  some  of  the  most  illus- 
trious generals  of  that  army;  and  all  through 
the  c(mgregati(m  the  'stars  and  bars'  mingle 
with  the  rough  garb  of  the  unknown  heroes  of 
the  rank  and  lile  who  never  quail  amid  the  lead 
and  iron  hail  of  battle,  l)ut  who  are  not  ashamed 
to  tremble  under  the  power  of  God's  truth.  JL 
need  not  say  that  this  is  Jackson's  headquarters, 
and  the  scene  I  have  pictured  one  of  frequent 
occurrence."    In  the  course  of  his  narrative 


Songs  hy  the  Catnp  Fires,  227 

Chaplain  Jones  shows  how  the  most  glorious 
revivals  swept  through  whole  regiments,  bri- 
gades, divisions,  corps,  and  the  entire  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia. 

The  venerable  Bishop  John  C.  Keener,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  testifies  to 
similar  conditions  among  the  Confederate  forces 
of  the  West.  In  a  recent  letter  he  writes: 
"Having  been  appointed  Superintendent  of 
Chaplains  on  the  western  side  of  the  Mississip- 
pi, 1  know  whereof  I  speak.  Before  and  after 
an  engagement  our  camp  lires  were  the  place  of 
song  and  thanksgiving,  and  many  were  convert- 
ed who  still  attest  that  God  was  with  us." 

No  competent  hand  has  yet  undertaken  to  do 
for  the  history  of  the  revivals  in  the  Federal 
armies  what  Dr.  Jones  has  done  in  "Christ  in 
the  Camp"  for  the  history  of  "religion  in  Lee's 
army;"  but  it  is  well  known  that  great  works  of 
grace  were  wrought  among  them  also.  The 
Christian  Commission  was  an  organization  cre- 
ated to  provide  for  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
care  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  armies,  and  it 
is  a  matter  of  record  that  it  expended  ^6, 264:, 607 
on  its  work,  above  one  million  of  this  large  sum 
being  spent  for  Bibles,  Testaments,  books,  reli- 
gious periodicals,  and  other  publications.    Who 


228      Softening  the  Era  of  Reconstruction, 

will  dare  affirm  that  such  great  things  would 
have  been  possible  if  the  revival  of  1858  had  not 
preceded  the  war  ?  Who  can  imagine  what  good 
was  accomplished  by  them,  and  what  evils  were 
averted? 

Dreadful  as  was  the  shock  of  war  to  the  re- 
public, and  sorrowful  as  were  the  conditions 
which  followed  that  bloody  four  years'  con- 
flict, it  cannot  be  justly  denied  that  the  revival 
which  preceded  it,  and  which  was  continued 
on  the  tented  fields  of  the  South,  did  neverthe- 
less break  the  force  of  the  shock  of  the  strife, 
softened  the  rigors  of  the  reconstruction  era, 
and  hastened  the  day  of  national  reconciliation 
in  which  all  sections  now  rejoice.  Never  in  the 
history  of  mankind  was  a  civil  war  followed 
so  quickly  by  a  reconciliation  so  genuine  and 
so  perfect.  The  prostrate  South  and  the  pros- 
perous North  came  speedily  together,  and  the 
federal  Union  was  restored  to  its  former  su- 
premacy. The  liberated  slaves  set  about  the 
tasks  of  freedom  in  peaceable  and  affectionate 
relations  to  their  former  masters,  while  the  op- 
ulent treasures  of  Northern  philanthropy  and 
the  hardly  earned  taxes  of  Southern  whites  were 
bestowed  in  abundance  upon  their  education. 
While  here  and  there  were  found  in  both  the 


The  Bevival  Sjririt  of  General  Lee,        229 

the  North  and  the  South  irreconcilable  Bour- 
bons, the  greatest  leaders  were  quick  to  preach 
the  tenets  of  peace,  and  the  uncorrapted  mass- 
es followed  willingly  the  guidance  of  men  of 
srood  will.  The  men  of  arms  and  the  men  of 
prayer,  who  were  generally  identical,  were 
prompt  to  discern  the  obligations  of  brother- 
hood and  to  set  their  hearts  on  nobler  things 
than  strife  and  contention. 

When  the  war  was  over,  and  General  Robert 
E.  Lee  went  to  take  charge  of  Washington  Uni- 
versity, at  Lexington,  Va.,  he  said  to  Rev.  Dr. 
White,  the  venerable  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church:  "I  shall  be  disappointed,  sir,  1  shall 
fail  in  the  leading  object  that  brought  me  here, 
unless  these  young  men  become  real  Christians." 
To  Dr.  Jones,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  he  said: 
"Our  great  want  is  a  revival  which  shall  bring 
these  young  men  to  Christ."  It  is  to  such  a 
spirit  of  faith,  in  the  North  and  in  the  South, 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  and  in  the 
hearts  of  most  of  their  leaders— a  spirit  in- 
spired and  fostered  by  great  revivals  before, 
during,  and  after  the  Civil  War— that  the  Great 
Republic  owes  much  of  its  present  prosperity 
and  peace.  And  upon  the  maintenance  of  this 
spirit  of  evangelical  faith  it  must  rely  for  the 


230  The  Hope  for  Years  to  Come, 

more  perfect  reconciliation  of  alienated  sections, 
the  unification  of  the  heterogeneous  elements 
which  compose  its  population,  the  subjugation 
of  an  ever-present  and  dangerous  mammonism, 
the  pacification  of  the  discordant  forces  of  in- 
dustrialism, the  correction  of  revolutionary 
tendencies,  and  its  security  amid  the  entan- 
glements and  perplexities  of  the  international 
relations  of  a  modern  world  power.  This  sav- 
ing faith  iu  the  hearts  of  the  people  is  the 
hope  of  the  nation  for  the  years  to  come,  as  it 
was  its  deliverance  in  the  perilous  period  from 
1860  to  1875. 


vm. 

THE  REVIVAL  IN  THE  DAYS  OF 
MOODY  AND  SANKEY. 


Moody  in  speech  and  Sankey  in  song  exercised  a 
wider  influence  than  any  other  two  men  upon  the  Brit- 
ish people  in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century.  San- 
key's  hymns  will  hold  first  place  in  thousands  of  places 
of  worship  throughout  the  British  Empire.  They  are 
sung  much  more  constantly,  and  b}'^  a  much  greater 
number  of  people,  than  any  other  songs,  with  the  one 
exception  of  the  national  anthem. — W.  T.  Stead,  in 
''The  Americanization  of  the  World.'" 

We  suppose  there  is  no  question  that  Mr.  Moody  has 
done  a  marvelous  work,  both  in  Great  Britain  and 
America.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  popular  curiosity  to 
know  exactly  what  it  was  and  how  it  was  done.  The 
remarkable  thing  about  it  seems  to  be  that  there  was 
no  remarkable  thing  about  it,  save  the  results.  Not  a 
revivalist,  but  an  evangelist;  not  a  stirrer  up  of  excite- 
ment, but  a  calm  preacher  of  Jesus  Christ,  Mr.  Moody 
has  talked,  in  his  earnest,  homely  way,  upon  truths 
which  he  deemed  essential  to  spiritual  welfare,  in  this 
world  and  the  next.  Men  went  to  hear  him  not  only 
by  thousands,  but  by  tens  of  thousands.  Not  only  the 
"common  people  heard  him  gladly,"  but  very  uncom- 
mon people— prime  ministers,  earls,  duchesses,  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  members  of  Congress,  doctors  of 
the  law,  doctors  of  divinity,  and  clergymen  by  the  hun- 
dred. All  testified  to  the  power  of  his  preaching.  The 
doubters  were  convinced,  tlie  wicked  were  converted, 
weary  teachers  of  religion  were  filled  with  fresh  cour- 
age and  hopefulness,  and  there  was  a  great  turning  of 
thoughts  and  hearts  Godward.— /.  G.  Holland,  in  ''EV' 
eryday  Topics.'' 
(232) 


VIII. 

THE  REVIVAL  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  MOODY  AND 
SANKEY. 

It  has  been  frequently  remarked  that  for 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  great  revivals 
in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  have 
prevailed  simultaneously.  While  the  English- 
speaking  nations  have  been  rising  to  the  com- 
manding positions  which  they  now  occupy  in 
the  world,  they  have  been  blessed  with  great 
spiritual  refreshings,  as  if  Heaven  were  girding 
them  with  peculiar  power  for  the  fulfillment  of 
a  common  mission  and  the  achievement  of  a 
common  destiny. 

This  remarkable  feature  of  their  history  was 
repeated  in  a  most  striking  manner  by  the  re- 
vival in  the  days  of  Moody  and  Sankey — a 
movement  which  was,  more  than  all  that  went 
before  it,  international  in  its  scope  and  charac- 
teristics. .  Moody,  the  lay  preacher,  and  Sankey, 
the  gospel  singer,  were  Americans,  but  their 
first  conspicuous  triumphs  were  accomplished 
in  the  British  Isles,  and  their  subsequent  success 

(233) 


234  At  Urban  Centers. 

in  their  native  land  was  made  possible  by  their 
victories  across  the  sea. 

While  these  men  did  not  in  person  touch  as 
many  points  as  did  the  leaders  in  the  great  re- 
vivals of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  operated 
more  effectively  on  great  urban  centers,  and 
tarried  longer  in  the "  cities  visited  by  them. 
The  press  carried  from  these  centers  their  ser- 
mons and  their  songs,  until  their  evangelistic 
productions  speedily  came  to  be  the  property  of 
the  English-speaking  world.  The  Atlantic  ca- 
ble, which  had  been  laid  since  the  close  of  the 
revival  of  1858,  flashed  from  continent  to  conti- 
nent the  news  of  the  great  meetings  in  London, 
Edinburgh,  New  York,  and  Brooklyn.  All  the 
new  and  speedy  methods  by  which  thought  and 
events  are  in  modern  times  so  quickly  commu- 
nicated from  point  to  point  and  from  land  to 
land  became  auxiliaries  of  the  work.  While 
all  these  powerful  agents  tended  to  extend  with 
unprecedented  swiftness  the  revival,  the  rapidly 
widening  process  through  which  it  thus  ran 
made  it,  both  then  and  now,  difficult  to  deter- 
mine with  precision  its  limits,  or  trace  with  ac- 
curacy its  current.  And  this  difficulty  is  en- 
hanced by  the  fact  that  it  followed  so  soon  after 
the  revival  of  1858,  and  reproduced  so  many  of 


Continuing  the  Bevival  of  1858.  235 

its  features,  that  the  two  movements  can  scarce- 
ly be  distinguished.  Above  a  half  century  in- 
tervened between  the  great  awakening  and  the 
great  revival  of  1800,  and  an  equal  interval 
elapsed  between  the  latter  and  the  revival  of 
1858.  Between  those  great  movements  there 
was  such  a  visible  subsidence  of  spiritual  life  in 
the  land  that  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  mark 
their  beginnings  and  their  terminations;  but,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  revival  of  1858  did  not  disap- 
pear, as  did  its  predecessors.  It  did  not  cease 
with  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  the 
States,  but  poured  its  flood  into  the  armies,  and 
with  almost  imdiminished  flow  swept  on  through 
the  period  of  hostilities.  Indeed,  in  one  phase 
of  it,  we  may  say  it  was  absolutely  promoted 
by  the  war.  The  spirit  of  Christian  unity  be- 
tween the  various  Churches,  which  became  so 
conspicuous  at  the  beginning  of  the  revival  of 
1858,  was  advanced  by  the  labors  of  chaplains 
on  the  tented  field  and  l)y  the  results  of  their 
ministry  there.  A  minister  in  charge  of  the 
religious  work  in  a  regiment  composed  of  men 
drawn  from  all  denominations  learned  lessons 
of  catholicity  and  acquired  habits  of  fraternity 
which  cannot  be  attained  so  readily  in  any  other 
situation.      Moreover,  the  men  under  his  care 


23G  A  Purifying  I^iver. 

imbibed  a  sense  of  brotherly  comradeship  not 
otherwise  possible. 

When  the  cruel  war  was  over,  this  spirit  was 
stronger  in  the  Chm*ches  than  when  the  fratri- 
cidal strife  began.  The  common  sorrows  of  all 
the  people,  their  common  trials  and  struggles, 
and,  above  all,  the  influences  which  sprang  from 
the  revivals  on  the  tented  field,  conspired  to  sup- 
press the  evils  of  sectarianism  and  to  open  the 
way  for  denominational  cooperation  to  a  degree 
never  before  possible  in  our  country.  From 
these  springs  there  issued  a  current  of  Chris- 
tian unity  which  flowed  with  a  resistless  tide 
through  the  meetings  of  Mood}^  and  Sankey. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  correct  to  say  of  the  period 
now  under  consideration  that  the  revival  of 
1858  flowed  into  and  through  the  Civil  War  like 
a  powerful  and  purifying  river  through  the  dark 
waters  of  a  turbid  lake,  and  on  the  farther  side 
of  the  dreadful  conflict  issued  in  the  revivalistic 
current  visible  in  the  days  of  Moody  and  San- 
key. It  is  quite  certain  that  Moody's  religious 
work  during  the  war  led  to  much  of  his  evan- 
gelistic labors  afterwards,  and  that  the  expe- 
riences of  the  bloody  struggle  colored  both  his 
sermons  and  Sankey's  songs.  The  tenderness 
of  his  appeals,  which  so  mightily  moved  the 


Moody 's  Early  Days.  237 

multitudes  whom  he  addressed,  is  largely  trace- 
able to  his  compassionate  ministries  to  the 
wounded  and  the  dying  and  the  imprisoned 
when  he  was  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
Christian  Commission,  and  many  of  his  most 
effective  illustrations  were  drawn  from  the 
thrilling  experiences  of  those  days. 

In  order  to  get  a  clear  view  of  his  ministry 
and  of  the  great  revival  in  which  he  was  the 
chief  leader,  it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  his  ear- 
lier history.  He  was  born  in  Northlield,  Mass., 
February  5,  1837;  but  after  spending  a  few 
days  of  his  youth  in  commercial  engagements 
in  Boston,  he  was  drawn  into  the  great  west- 
ward current  of  the  fifties,  and  landed  in  Chica- 
go in  September,  1855.  He  carried  with  him  his 
Church  letter  and  a 'recommendation  to  an  hon- 
orable firm.  He  was  bent  on  both  diligence  in 
business  and  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  threw 
himself  immediately  into  his  secular  tasks  and 
religious  work  with  all  the  characteristic  ear- 
nestness of  his  nature.  He  made  religion  his 
business  and  his  business  religious. 

Soon  he  was  found  at  the  center  of  a  zealous 
group  of  fervent  spirits  carrying  on  a  mission 
in  the  North  Market  Hall.  With  no  Church  to 
support  the  enterprise,  he  pushed  it  through 


238  "Going  for  Them," 

countless  obstacles  to  success.  The  ball  was 
used  on  Saturday  nights  for  dancing;  and  after 
the  motley  crowds  who  patronized  the  dancing 
dispersed,  he  and  his  associates  were  accustomed 
to  spend  the  late  hours  of  Saturday  night  and 
the  early  hours  of  Sunday  morning  in  removing 
the  sawdust,  cleansing  the  floors,  and  putting 
the  room  in  order  for  their  services  the  next 
day.  He  was  then,  when  he  had  barely  attained 
his  majority,  exemplifying  his  method  for  reach- 
ing the  masses,  which  in  later  years  he  tersely 
expressed  in  the  motto,  ''Go  for  them."  In 
this  hall  he  conducted  a  mission  Sunday  school 
for  six  years,  during  which  time  it  reached  a 
membership  of  over  one  thousand.  Finding  it 
more  and  more  difficult  to  hold  prayer  meetings 
or  Sunday  evening  services  in  the  market  hall, 
he  rented  a  room  near  by  that  had  been  used  for 
a  saloon,  in  which  about  two  hundred  persons 
could  be  seated,  boarded  up  the  side  windows, 
and  furnished  it  with  seats  made  of  unpainted 
pine  boards.  In  that  plain  and  ill-furnished 
room  he  gathered  the  poor  and  the  vicious,  and 
sought  by  melting  appeals  and  fervent  prayers 
to  win  them  from  vice  and  godlessness  to  virtue 
and  piety. 

He  identified  himself  with  the  work  of  the 


Abundant  in  Labors,  239 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association  also,  and 
soon  became  the  president  of  the  Association  in 
Chicago.  Under  his  administration  a  hall  was 
built,  which  was  named,  from  the  chief  contribu- 
tor to  the  building  fund,  '' Farwell  Hall."  This 
hall  became  through  his  zealous  efforts  a  center 
of  religious  attraction  to  the  entire  city.  The 
building  was  burned  in  the  winter  of  1868,  but 
under  his  leadership  another  was  speedily  erect- 
ed in  its  place.  Meanwhile  he  carried  on  his 
mission  and  Church  work  with  undiminished 
zeal  and  with  ever- in  creasing  success.  Besides 
all  this,  he  gave  much  time  to  the  work  of  re- 
ligious conventions,  to  evangelistic  work  outside 
the  city  of  Chicago,  and  to  the  service  of  ihe 
Christian  Commission  in  the  army.  He  was 
the  president  of  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  Com- 
mission, George  H.  Stuart,  of  Philadelphia, 
with  whom  in  after  years  he  labored  in  the 
great  meetings  in  the  "City  of  Brotherly 
Love,"  being  the  president  of  the  general  or- 
ganization. Ten  times  he  went  to  the  front 
with  supplies  for  the  wounded  bodies  of  the 
soldiers  and  with  healing  messages  of  the  gos- 
pel for  their  souls.  He  visited  also  the  Confed- 
erate soldiers  who  were  prisoners  at  Camp 
Douglas,   showing  them  the  tender   love  of  a 


240  His  Aim  Not  Gain, 

brother  and  preaching  to  them  sermons  under 
which  not  a  few  were  converted.  All  this  time 
his  support  was  guaranteed  by  no  society  nor 
assured  by  any  person.  Railroad  authorities 
passed  him  free  over  their  lines,  generous  mer- 
chants quietly  paid  his  board  and  provided  for 
his  wardrobe,  although  he  never  then,  or  subse- 
quently during  the  years  of  his  celebrity,  solic- 
ited a  dollar  for  himself.  Nor  did  he  ever  show 
an  itching  palm.  After  his  marriage  apprecia- 
tive friends,  who  knew  the  value  and  the  un- 
selfishness of  the  work  he  had  been  doing,  sur- 
prised him  and  his  devoted  wife  by  leading  them 
one  day  into  an  elegant  home  near  the  scenes  of 
his  early  mission  work^  and  conveying  to  him  a 
perpetual  lease  to  the  property.  But  the  great 
fire  of  1871  swept  away  the  house  and  sent  them 
out  again  among  the  homeless. 

Undismayed  by  his  moneyless  condition  and 
undiscouraged  by  the  great  disaster  to  the  city, 
he  set  about  at  once  the  erection  of  a  humble 
shed  or  tabernacle  on  the  ruins  of  his  mission, 
and  there  gathered  the  scattered  flock^  fed  and 
clothed  and  comforted  them,  and  preached  to 
them  the  gospel  that  saves  and  soothes.  And 
Sankey,  whom  he  had  met  at  the  International 
Convention  ol  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 


Moody 's  Partner  in  Toil.  241 

sociation,  held  at  Indianapolis  in  1870,  helped 
him. 

•  Moody  was  a  Congregationalist  from  North- 
field,  Mass.,  and  Sankey  was  a  Methodist  from 
Edenburg,  Pa. ;  but  when  they  met  at  the  con- 
vention Moody  felt  that  he  had  found  the  part- 
ner in  Christian  work  whom  he  had  been  wish- 
ing and   waiting  for.     Sankey   yielded   to   his 
call,  dissolved  the  associations  of  years'  stand- 
ing, yoked  himself  to  the  great  lay  preacher, 
and  went  forth  to  the  peculiar  work  to  which 
they    felt    impelled    by    the    Spirit.     For    six 
months    they    labored     together    in    Chicago, 
carrying  on  and  enlarging  the  mission  work 
which    Moody    had    been    doing    for    years 
before    Sankey    joined    him,    in    1870.      The 
great  fire  came  in   1871  and  laid  the  city  in 
ruins.     The  fire  began  on  Sunday  evening,  when 
they  were  holding  a  great  meeting  in  Farwell 
Hall.     When  the  alarm  struck  Sankey  was  sing- 
ing the  hymn,  "To-Day  the  Saviour  Calls,"  etc. 
The  next  day,  having  lost  all  that  he  had,  even 
the  opportunity  of   service  in   Chicago  as  it 
seemed,  the  devoted  musician  started  back  to 
his  former  home,  in  Pennsylvania,  telling  Moody, 
however,  that  he  was  willing  to  return  wJien 
needed,  and  that  he  would  hold'  himself  in  read- 
16 


242  Sankeij  in  the  Tabernacle, 

iness  to  come  on  call.  In  three  months  Moody 
telegraphed  him,  "Come  at  once,"  and  he  came 
without  hesitation  or  delay.  Together  they  then 
entered  on  the  work,  philanthropic  and  religions, 
which  was  done  in  the  Ncav  Tabernacle  for  the 
homeless  thousands  who  flocked  around  them. 
In  the  autumn  of  that  year  Sankey  removed  his 
family  to  Chicago,  and  Moody  went  on  a  short 
visit  to  England.  While  the  lay  preacher  was 
abroad  the  gospel  singer,  alone  and  unaided, 
carried  on  the  Avork  of  the  Tabernacle.  During 
the  year  1872  they  together  continued  the  enter- 
prise. 

In  the  spring  of  1873  they  were  invited  by 
three  English  gentlemen  to  visit  their  country 
and  hold  meetings.  They  were  promised  no 
compensation,  and  yet,  being  persuaded  that  it 
was  the  will  of  God  that  they  should  go,  they 
accepted  the  invitation  and  went.  They  began 
at  Liverpool,  Moody  armed  with  his  Bible  and 
Sankey  equipped  with  his  organ  and  song  book. 
They  accomplished  but  little,  and  after  a  few 
days  they  proceeded  toward  York,  to  find  the 
friends  who  invited  them  over.  Two  of  the  men 
had  died  before  their  arrival ;  but,  with  undaunt- 
ed faith,  the  American  evangelists  secured  a  place 
to  hold  their  services  and  went  to  work.     They 


Yorky  SunderlcDid,  and  Newcasile,         243 

remained  there  for  a  month,  and  two  hundred 
people  were  converted — the  first  fruits  of  their 
toil  in  Britain. 

From  York  they  went  to  Sunderland,  on  the 
invitation  of  a  Baptist  minister,  the  Rev.  Arthur 
Rees.  The  other  ministers  of  the  city  generally 
hesitated  or  opposed  the  work  at  its  beginning 
there.  At  length  they  were  invited  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion to  conduct  a  meeting  in  Victoria  Hall.  The 
work  in  Sunderland  was  greater  than  that  at 
York,  but  it  was  not  satisfactory  to  Moody,  and 
from  there  they  proceeded  to  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  by  invitation  of  the  ministers  who  came 
over  to  see  the  work  at  Sunderland.  They  were 
cordially  received  by  both  the  preachers  and 
the  people  of  Newcastle,  and  at  the  outset  of  the 
work  Moody  said:  "Vv^e  have  not  done  much  in 
York  and  Sunderland,  because  the  ministers  op- 
posed us;  but  we  are  going  to  stay  in  Newcastle 
until  w^e  make  an  impression  and  live  down  the 
prejudices  of  good  people  who  do  not  understand 
us."     And  they  did. 

They  began  in  Newcastle  at  the  Rye  Hill  Bap- 
tist Church,  but  after  three  weeks  the  crowds 
were  larger  than  the  building  could  contain,  and 
services  were  then  begun  in  Music  Hall  also; 


244  Stockton-on-Tees  and  Carlisle. 

Moody  and  Harry  Moorhouse,  a  converted  prize- 
fighter, of  Manchester,  England,  preaching,  and 
Sankey  singing  the  ^'wonderful  words  of  life." 
Multitudes  were  converted  and  all  the  Churches 
revived.  Thence  they  went,  in  the  early  part  of 
November,  to  Stockton-on-Tees,  and  from  there 
they  proceeded  to  the  border  town  of  Carlisle.  At 
that  point,  where  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen 
used  to  meet  in  deadly  feuds,  great  victories  for 
the  Prince  of  Peace  were  won  by  them.  The 
days  of  discouragement  now  gave  place  to  con- 
tinuous triumphs,  as  the  fame  of  their  meetings 
spread  on  all  sides. 

Reports  of  the  work  reached  Edinburgh,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Kelman  went  twice  from  there  to 
Newcastle  to  see  if  the  reports  were  true.  He 
saw  the  meetings,  and,  like  the  good  Barnabas 
when  he  "had  seen  the  grace  of  God"  at  Anti- 
och  (Acts  xi.  23),  "was  glad."  The  story  that 
Mr.  Kelman  told  when  he  returned  induced 
ministers  and  laymen  to  unite  in  a  petition  to 
the  evangelists  to  come  to  Edinburgh.  The  in- 
vitation thus  extended  was  accepted,  and  they 
began  to  work  there  in  Music  Hall  on  Novem- 
ber 23,  1873.  They  met  with  success  at  the 
outset,  two  thousand  people  attending  the  first 
service,  and  other  thousands  going  away  because 


In  Edinburgh,  245 

there  was  not  room  for  them  in  the  hall.  A 
meeting  for  students  was  also  appointed  in  the 
Free  Assembly  Hall.  That  overflowed,  and 
Mr.  Moody  went  out  and  addressed  a  multitude 
in  the  open  air,  and  then  returned  and  spoke  to 
two  thousand  within,  the  most  eminent  pro- 
fessors of  the  university  sitting  around  him  on 
the  platform.  Special  services  for  the  poorest 
and  most  abject  classes  were  held.  The  daily 
prayer  meetings  at  noon  were  attended  by  more 
than  a  thousand  people  every  day  for  weeks  to- 
gether. Gathered  around  the  pulpit  at  the 
evening  hour  were  ministers  of  all  denomina- 
tions and  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  while 
in  the  audience  were  persons  of  the  nobility, 
professors  from  the  university,  distinguished 
lawyers,  and  members  of  Parliament.  Meet- 
ings were  held  in  Broughton  Place  Church,  Tol- 
booth  Church,  the  Established  Church  Assembly 
Hall,  the  Free  High  Church,  the  Corn  Exchange, 
Free  St.  George's  Church,  and  at  many  other 
places  in  the  city.  On  Sunday  Moody  spoke 
seven  times,  and  it  was  estimated  that  not  less 
than  fifteen  thousand  people  heard  the  gospel 
from  his  lips  that  day.  He  addressed  special 
discourses  to  the  students  of  Edinburgh  Univer- 
sity and  the  New  College. 


246        At  Berwick,  Dundee,  and  Glasgow. 

The  evangelists  remained  in  Edinburgh  near- 
ly two  months,  and  during  that  time  they  won 
over  fifteen  hundred  souls  to  Christ  and  his 
Church. 

Then  they  visited  Berwick-on-Tweed,  and 
then  spent  a  few  days  in  Dundee,  where  every 
evening  for  a  week  ten  thousand  to  sixteen  thou- 
sand persons  assembled  in  the  open  air  (though 
it  was  midwinter)  to  hear  the  gospel  of  salva- 
tion. 

February  8,  1874,  they  opened  their  evangel- 
istic campaign  in  Glasgow,  where  at  '9  o'clock 
Mr.  Moody  addressed  three  thousand  Sunday 
school  teachers  and  other  Christian  workers,  as- 
sembled in  the  City  Hall.  As  the  meetings  con- 
tinued the  crowds  became  so  great  that  it  was 
necessary  to  hold  separate  services  for  men  and 
women,  and  even  then  no  building  could  be 
found  in  the  city  large  enough  to  hold  the  di- 
vided congregations.  Again  and  again  as  many 
as  one  thousand  inquirers  remained  after  the 
sermon,  desiring  personal  instruction  in  the  way 
of  life.  The  Crystal  Palace,  the  largest  assem- 
bly hall  in  Scotland,  was  eventually  opened  for 
the  services,  and  it  too  was  found  insufficient 
to  accommodate  the  multitudes.  Whereupon 
Moody  left  San  key  and  several  ministers  to  con- 


Finish  the  Campaign  in  Scotland.        247 

duct  the  service  inside  the  Palace,  while  he  went 
outside  and  addressed  the  crowd,  that  filled  the 
whole  space  between  the  Palace  and  the  Bo- 
tanic Gardens.  The  throng  within  and  with- 
out, it  was  estimated,  exceeded  twenty  thou- 
sand. After  three  months  of  toil  and  victory, 
the  evangelists  turned  their  faces  northward, 
and,  after  revisiting  Edinburgh  and  Dundee 
for  a  few  days,  they  proceeded  to  Elgin,  Aber- 
deen, and  Craig  Castle.  At  these  points 
scenes  of  the  same  triumphant  sort  were  re- 
enacted. 

They  spent  six  months  laboring  at  all  these 
centers  in  Scotland — centers  at  which  mighty  re- 
vivals had  been  witnessed  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  under  the  ministry  of  the  Haldanes 
in  1800— and  then  they  went  to  Ireland,  and  be- 
gan work  in  Belfast  September  6,  1874.  The 
meetings  had  a  good  commencement,  and  from 
the  first  the  churches  were  so  crowded  that  the 
expedient  was  adopted  of  dividing  the  services 
between  the  men  and  the  women,  the  services 
for  the  latter  being  held  at  2  o'clock,  and  for 
the  former  at  8  o'clock.  The  largest  churches 
were  filled  at  these  divided  meetings,  with  con- 
gregations varying  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand.    Open-air  meetings  were  held,  attend- 


248  In  Catholic  Ireland. 

ed  by  numbers  variously  reckoned  at  from  ten 
thousand  to  twenty  thousand  people,  the  greatest 
meeting  being  held  in  the  Botanic  Gardens  on 
October  8.  Then  they  went  to  Derry  for  five 
days,  after  which  they  returned  to  Belfast  for  a 
final  meeting  before  passing  on  to  Dublin.  The 
number  of  those  converted  at  Belfast  was  esti- 
mated at  more  than  three  thousand,  and  the 
meeting  lasted  only  about  five  weeks. 

They  spent  the  month,  from  October  26  to 
November  29,  in  Dublin.  The  meetings  were 
held  in  the  Exhibition  Palace,  said  to  hold  ten 
thousand  people,  and  every  night  it  was  filled. 
Multitudes  came  from  all  over  the  island.  The 
whole  city  was  moved,  even  the  Roman  Catholics 
treating  with  the  utmost  respect  the  great  work. 
The  newspaper  called  the  Nation,  an  organ  of 
the  Nationalists  and  the  Romanists,  said  in  an 
editorial :  ' '  The  deadly  danger  of  the  age  comes 
upon  us  from  the  direction  of  Huxley  and  Dar- 
w^in  and  Tyndall  rather  than  from  Moody  and 
Sankey.  Irish  Catholics  desire  to  see  Protes- 
tants imbued  with  religious  feeling  rather  than 
tinged  with  rationalism  and  infidelit}^;  and  as 
long  as  the  religious  services  of  our  Protestant 
neighbors  are  honestly  directed  to  quickening 
religious  thought  in  their  own  bod}^,  without  of- 


At  Manchester,  England,  249 

fering  aggressive  or  intentional  insult  to  us,  it 
is  our  duty  to  pay  the  homage  of  our  respect  to 
their  conscientious  convictions;  in  a  word,  to  do 
as  we  would  be  done  by." 

In  Catholic  Da])lin,  w^here  there  were  only 
about  forty  thousand  Protestants  (about  one- 
sixth  of  the  total  population),  there  were  in 
these  meetings,  which  lasted  no  longer  than  one 
month  and  three  days,  over  two  thousand  con- 
versions. 

From  Dublin  they  went  to  Manchester,  En- 
gland. They  were  now  no  longer  the  unknown 
Americans  who  received  at  first  so  poor  a  hear- 
ing in  Liverpool  and  York,  but  "brethren  be- 
loved and  longed  for"  by  thousands  who  had 
not  yet  seen  their  faces  in  the  flesh,  but  who 
had  heard  of  the  wonderful  works  of  divine 
grace  wrought  in  them  and  through  them  dur- 
ing the  meetings  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The 
services  began  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall,  and  the 
capacious  building  was  densely  crowded  with 
people  from  the  first.  Long  before  the  hour 
appointed  hundreds  found  it  impossible  to  get 
so  much  as  standing  room  within  the  hall.  As 
the  good  work  proceeded,  services  were  held  in 
Oxford  Hall  and  Cavendish  Chapel,  which  were 
also  too  small  for  the  numbers  who  sought  to 


250  At  Sheffield 

enter  them.  The  meetings  continued  nearly  a 
month,  closing  in  the  last  days  of  the  year  1874. 
While  the  work  was  in  progress  every  house  in 
[Manchester  was  visited  and  the  invitation  of 
the  gospel  extended  to  all  the  people. 

One  of  the  results  accomplished  was  the  rais- 
ing of  ^150,000  for  the  purchase  of  a  building 
in  Peter  Street  for  the  Young  [Men's  Christian  ^ 
Association.  At  a  meeting  held  in  furtherance 
of  this  object  Herbert  Spencer  presided,  and, 
after  an  inspiring  address  by  Mr.  [Moody,  S9,000 
was  raised,  the  chairman  of  the  meeting  con- 
tributing several  thousands  of  the  amount. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  1874  the  evangel- 
ists made  their  appearance  in  Sheffield,  England's 
gi-eat  iron  and  steel  center,  with  its  quarter  of  a 
million  inhabitants.  The  first  meeting  was  held 
in  Temperance  Hall,  and  there  the  work  opened 
most  auspiciously.  Subsequently  Albert  Hall 
was  called  into  use,  and  the  recent  victory  of 
[Manchester  was  repeated  in  the  added  triumph  of 
Sheffield.  [Ministers  of  the  Established  Church 
and  those  of  the  Free  Churches  sat  together  on 
the  same  platform,  followed  each  other  in  prayer, 
and"  united  in  the  most  harmonious  support  of 
the  great  evangelical  movement  on  behalf  of  the 
salvation  of  all  the  people. 


At  Binnuujham.  251 

From  there  they  went  to  Birmino^ham,  the 
constituency  of  John  Bright  and  "the  toy  shop 
of  the  world."  In  this  city  of  four  hundred 
thousand  people  they  remained  from  January  IT 
to  January  29,  preaching  during  their  stay  of 
twelve  days  to  not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  according  to  the  calculation  made 
and  published  by  the  Birmingham  Morning 
Ne%08.  People  came  from  London,  from  all 
the  surrounding  towns  and  country,  and  from 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  to  attend  a  convention  of 
Christian  workers  held  one  day  during  the  two 
weeks. 

And  in  this  connection  it  should  be  remarked 
that  in  all  the  meetings  held  in  Great  Britain, 
as  well  as  in  the  meetings  held  subsequently  in 
the  United  States,  Mr.  Moody  gave  particular 
and  careful  attention  to  the  instruction  and 
preparation  of  lay  workers  to  carry  on  the  work 
of  evangelization  through  all  the  Churches. 
Unlike  Wesley,  he  organized  no  Church;  and 
unlike  Whitefield,  he  made  careful  provision 
for  the  preservation  of  the  fruits  of  his  toil. 

The  meetings  in  Birmingham  were  carried  on 
at  three  places— Town  Hall,  Carres  Lane  Chap- 
el, and  Bingley  Hall.  The  number  of  conver- 
sions was  estimated  at  about  two  thousand. 


252  Again  in  Liver  pool. 

They  stayed  exactly  one  month  in  Liverpool, 
the  next  city  visited,  beginning  there  on  Feb- 
ruary 7,  and  continuing  until  March  7.  Before 
they  came  a  building  sufficiently  large  to  seat 
eight  thousand  persons  had  been  erected,  and 
named  "Victoria  Hall."  But  even  it  was  not 
enough  for  the  needs  of  the  occasion,  and  New- 
some's  Circus  and  the  concert  room  of  St. 
George's  Hall  were  used  for  a  number  of  serv- 
ices. At  a  meeting  in  Newsome's  Circus,  at- 
tended by  seven  thousand  young  men,  the 
speaker  was  Henry  Drummond,  thereafter  a 
lifelong  friend  of  Moody  and  a  man  of  great 
value  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  Great  Britain 
and  America.  Participating  in  the  work  of 
evangelizing  Liverpool  at  this  time  was  another 
man  of  great  usefulness  to  the  Churches  on  both 
sides  of  the  water— W.  H.  M.  Aitkin,  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  who  did  much  to  introduce 
evangelistic  methods  in  the  Churches  of  the 
Establishment.  He  was  at  this  time  assisting 
the  vicar  of  St.  John's  Church  in  the  conduct 
of  a  meeting  after  the  model  of  the  Moody  and 
Sankey  services  in  Victoria  Hall. 

When  the  American  evangelists  came  first  to 
Liverpool,  in  1873,  it  is  not  known  if,  through 
their  labors,  a  single  conversion  was  made;  now, 


Pass  On  to  London.  253 

two  years  later,  the  whole  city  was  ablaze  with 
revival  fires,  and  thousands  were  ])rought  to 
Christ.  They  had  gone  forth  weeping,  bearing 
precious  seed;  and  now  returned  with  joy,  bring- 
ing their  sheaves  with  them. 

Before  leaving  Liverpool  the  corner  stone  of 
the  new  building  for  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  was  laid  l)y  Mr.  Moody,  and  on  it 
was  this  inscription:  "This  memorial  stone  was 
laid  by  D.  L.  Moody,  of  Chicago,  2d  of  March, 
1875."  He  used  a  silver  trowel  presented  to 
him  for  the  occasion.  During  his  stay  in  the 
city  he  was  honored  with  every  sort  of  attention 
and  Christian  courtesy. 

What  had  brought  so  quickly  this  distin- 
guished consideration  to  the  lay  preacher  from 
Chicago?  Nothing  more  than  the  simple 
preaching  of  the  gospel  in  such  an  earnest,  fer- 
vent way  as  to  bring  many  souls  to  the  Sav- 
iour. That  was  all,  but  that  was  quite  enough 
to  justify  the  honor  accorded  to  him. 

From  March  9  to  July  11,  1875,  the  evangel- 
ists were  in  London,  where  during  those  four 
months  $150,000  was  expended  by  generous 
men  and  women  on  the  work  of  the  revival. 

During  the  first  month  the  meetings  were 
held  in  Agricultural  Hall,  the  largest  building  in 


254  The  Meetings  in  London, 

North  London.  The  audience  at  the  first  night's 
service  numbered  twenty  thousand,  and  the  doors 
had  to  be  closed  in  the  face  of  ,niany  hundreds 
for  whom  there  was  no  room  in  the  hall.  As 
the  work  advanced,  meetings  were  held  in  every 
section  of  the  great  metropolis — at  Agricultural 
Hall,  Sanger's  Amphitheater,  Exeter  Hall,  Con- 
ference Hall  at  Mildmay  Park,  St.  Mary's  Hall, 
Bow-road  Hall,  the  Royal  Opera  House  in  the 
Haymarket,  and  Cam))erwell  Hall  in  South 
London.  During  the  campaign  of  four  months 
there  were  held  at  these  places  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  services  attended  l^y  more  than  a 
million  and  a  half  persons.  A\\  classes  w^ere 
reached,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  Lord 
Radstock,  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  and  Dean 
Stanley  often  occupied  seats  on  the  platform, 
and  the  two  former  took  active  part  in  the  serv- 
ices. Among  those  who  attended  were  a  great 
number  of  the  nobility,  including  members  of 
the  royal  family,  in  the  persons  of  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Teck,  and  the  Princess  of  Wales, 
now  the  Queen  of  England.  It  was  said  that 
the  Royal  Opera  House  was  secured  for  the  use 
of  the  evangelists  through  the  effort  of  Lord 
Dudley,  and  that  he  was  encouraged  to  make 
the  effort  ])y  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Prince 


The  Results  in  London.  256 

of  Wales,  the  iDresent  reigning  sovereign. 
Mooclj  and  Sankey  divided  their  time  and  la- 
bors about  equally  between  the  East  and  West 
Ends,  and  for  the  services  at  other  points  they 
were  assisted  by  William  Taylor  (afterwards  a 
Missionary  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church),  Henry  Varley,  Major  Cole,  Henry 
Drummond,  W.  PI.  M.  Aitkin,  and  others  of  less 
note. 

At  the  end  of  the  last  service  the  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury  made  a  brief  address  concerning 
"what  had  occurred  during  the  past  four 
months,"  declaring  that  he  "did  so  with  the 
deepest  sense  of  gratitude  to  God  that  he  had 
raised  up  a  man  with  such  a  message  and  to  be 
delivered  in  such  a  manner."  He  warmly  tes- 
tified to  the  wide  extent  and  great  depth  of  the 
work. 

It  is  certain  that  London  and  all  the  region 
round  about  had  not  been  so  profoundly  affected 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  if  ever. 

Leaving  London,  where  they  had  triumphed 
so  gloriously,  the  American  evangelists  departed 
for  Liverpool  wdth  their  faces  set  toward  their 
own  country.  At  Liverpool  they  held  several 
services  in  Victoria  Hall  before  their  departure 
for  America.     In  the  course  of  these  services 


256  Effects  of  the  Worl-  on  England. 

frequent  and  grateful  allusion  by  various  per- 
sons of  note  were  made  to  the  great  and  blessed 
results  of  tlieir  evangelistic  campaign,  of  two 
years'  duration,  in  the  cities  and  towns  of  Great 
Britain.  From  such  testimonies  of  the  kind  as 
have  been  preserved  we  may  get  an  idea  of  the 
extent  and  excellence  of  the  work  done  by  the 
evanofelists.  The  Rev.  W.  H.  M.  Aitkin  said: 
"The  blessing  which  God  has  been  pleased  to 
shower  upon  his  work  in  various  parts  of  the 
land  had  put  them  on  vantage  (ground,  for  they 
occupied  a  better  x^osition  now  than  ever  before 
in  this  land.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  Church 
of  God  had  e^er  occupied  a  better  position  in 
this  land  than  it  did  at  the  present  moment." 
Dr.  Stalker,  of  Edinburgh,  said  that  "he  felt 
the  last  two  years  had  been  years  of  great 
importance  to  the  whole  country,  and  would  be 
remembered  for  many  years  to  come  as  great 
years.  One  thing  that  had  made  them  interest- 
ing and  memorable  was  that  religion  had  been 
made  respected  among  the  young  men  of  the 
country.  Young  men  had  been  apt  to  look 
down  upon  evangelical  religion;  but  in  the  part 
he  came  from  they  dare  not  do  that  now,  be- 
cause in  all  classes  of  the  community  the  very 
strongest  of  these  young  men  had  been  won  to 


Savinfj  the  Young  Men.  257 

Christ,  and  they  were  bearing  themselves  so  in 
the  ordinary  business  of  life  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  those  around  them  not  to  respect  them. 
.  .  .  At  the  University  of  Edinburgh  last 
April  there  were  only  six  or  seven  men  who 
won  first  class  honors,  and  three  of  these  were 
conspicuous  in  this  work.  Only  one  man  got 
what  was  called  a  '  double  first,'  and  that  man  he 
had  heard  addressing  these  revival  meetings. 
That  was  the  kind  of  revival  of  religion  they 
were  having  now;  and  he  thanked  God  for  it 
with  all  his  heart."  Mr.  Alexander  Balfoiu* 
spoke  at  the  final  service,  saying  among  other 
things:  "I  do  not  know  that  lam  the  proper 
person,  on  behalf  of  this  audience,  to  say  good- 
by  to  our  dear  friends,  but  I  feel  that  there 
must  be  some  mouthpiece  to  express  to  them 
our  real  sentiments.  We  thank  them  from  the 
bottom  of  our  hearts  for  what  they  have  done 
here.  Unless  Mr.  Moody  had  been  a  man  like 
a  cannon  ball  for  hardness  of  material,  direct- 
ness of  aim,  and  persistence  of  purpose,  he  could 
never  have  accomplished  what  he  has  done. 
His  wisdom  has  been  conspicuous  in  discover- 
ing this — that  our  young  men  in  Liverpool  and 
elsewhere  in  this  country  have  been  greatly 
neglected.  He  has  been  wise  also  in  choosing 
17 


258  Beturniug  to  America. 

them  to  be,  for  the  future,  not  merely  the  re- 
cipients of  God's  grace  but  the  distributers  of 
it.  I  do  feel  that  he  has  been  very  wise  in  be- 
stowing so  much  attention  upon  our  young 
men.  Many  know  that  Liverpool  has  been  a 
curse  to  thousands  of  young  men.  They  have 
come  here  and  have  been  led  into  all  kinds  of 
evil  courses  of  life.  How  many  broken  hearts 
are  in  this  country  because  of  the  mischief  done 
to  young  men  in  Liverpool!  On  behalf  of  the 
mothers  and  sisters  of  this  country,  I  wish  to 
give  Mr.  Moody  the  most  heartfelt  expression 
of  thanks  that  it  is  in  my  power  to  convey;  and 
on  behalf  of  thousands  who  shall  be  influenced 
by  the  j^oung  men  in  Liverpool,  I  wish  to  ex- 
press to  him  a  tribute  of  gratitude  for  what  he 
has  done." 

The  meetings  over,  the  evangelists  went 
aboard  the  Sjxtln^  which  steamed  away  for 
America,  while  thousands  stood  upon  the  shore 
singing  *'Safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus"  and 
''Work,  for  the  night  is  coming,"  as  the  vessel 
passed  out  of  sight,  bearing  away  the  lay 
preacher  and  the  gospel  singer  to  their  native 
land,  where  other  great  victories  were  shortly 
to  be  achieved. 

Thus  ended  the  meetings  in  Great  Britain. 


Work  Begun  in  Brooklyn.  259 

When  it  is  remembered  that  during  the  decade 
from  1875-85  there  came  to  the  United  States 
4,061,278  immigrants,  most  of  whom  were  from 
the  British  Isles,  the  value  of  the  Moody-San- 
key  meetings  in  those  lands  to  the  Great  Re- 
public will  be  appreciated.  How  many  of  Liv- 
erpool's homeless  young  men  came  to  America 
during  that  decade,  no  man  can  state.  Many 
were  prepared  to  come  by  the  services  of  the 
American  preacher  and  singer. 

When  the  evangelists  reached  America  they 
took  a  few  weeks  for  rest,  after  which  they  be- 
gan a  meeting  in  Brooklyn.  It  was  arranged 
that  the  services  should  be  held  in  the  Rink  on 
Clermont  Avenue  and  in  Talmage's  Tabernacle. 
There  they  began  October  24, 1875.  They  were 
met  by  the  w^armest  interest  from  the  outset,  and 
their  phenomenal  work  in  Great  Britain  height- 
ened public  expectation  of  similar  results  in  the 
United  States. 

The  morning  services  were  begun  at  half  past 
eight  o'clock,  but  before  six  people  began  to 
gather  at  the  doors.  At  eight  over  five  thou- 
sand persons  were  seated  in  the  building,  and 
three  thousand  or  more  had  been  turned  away 
for  lack  of  standing  room.  In  the  afternoon 
twelve    thousand    souo-ht   and   could    not   find 


260  In  Philadelphia. 

room  in  the  building,  and  meetings  were  ap- 
pointed in  neighboring  churches  to  accommo- 
date them.  And  so  for  nearly  a  month  the 
evangelists  saw  reenacted  in  their  own  land  the 
marvelous  scenes  which  they  had  witnessed  in 
the  British  Isles.  Multitudes  flocked  to  hear 
them  and  thousands  were  converted. 

From  Brooklyn  they  proceeded  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  they  began  their  labors  November 
21,  1875,  in  a  freight  depot  on  the  corner  of 
Thirteenth  and  Market  Streets,  which  had  been 
arranged  as  the  central  place  of  service.  Seats 
for  twelve  thousand  people  were  provided — as 
many  as  it  was  supposed  the  voice  of  the 
preacher  could  reach.  But  the  Depot  Taberna- 
cle soon  proved  inadequate,  and  meetings  were 
appointed  for  other  places.  Ministers  of  all 
denominations  united  in  the  work,  and  people 
of  all  classes  attended  the  services,  drawn  not 
only  from  within  the  limits  of  the  city  but  from 
all  the  region  of  country  accessible  to  Philadel- 
phia. The  President  of  the  United  States,  Gen- 
eral Grant,  came  over  from  Washington  with  a 
distinguished  party  to  inspect  the  preparations 
for  the  approaching  Centennial  Exposition,  and 
while  in  the  city  the  entire  party  attended  the 
meeting  and  occupied  seats  upon  the  platform. 


Notable  Laymen  and  Singers.  261 

The  President  was  deeply  impressed  by  Sankey's 
singing,  and  ^Ir.  Blaine  pronounced  Mr.  Moody 
a  most  wonderful  man. 

In  the  meeting  Mr.  Moody  had  the  assistance 
of  some  notable  laymen — William  E.  Dodge,  of 
New  York;  George  H.  Stuart,  whom  he  had 
known  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the 
Christian  Commission;  John  Wanamaker;  and 
his  friend  Hon.  John  V.  Farwell,  of  Chicago. 
Sankey  was  helped  in  the  music  by  W.  C. 
Fischer,  a  composer  and  singer  conspicuous 
among  that  large  group  of  musicians  who  dur- 
ing the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  de- 
veloped a  new  type  of  devotional  and  Sunday 
school  songs,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
also  P.  P.  Bliss,  W.  B.  Bradl^ury,  Philip 
Phillips,  H.  R.  Palmer,  A.  B.  Everett,  Rigdon 
M.  Mcintosh,  W.  H.  Doane,  William  J.  Kirk- 
patrick,  and  John  R.  Sweney. 

The  evangelists  tarried  in  Philadelphia  nine 
weeks,  addressing  audiences  larger  than  had 
ever  been  gathered  there  since  A\^hitefield 
preached  on  Society  Hill  and  the  courthouse 
stairs.  The  harvest  of  souls  was  very  great, 
especially  among  the  unchurched  classes.  Mr, 
Moody  was  dissatisfied  with  the  results  of  the 
meetings  in  Brooklyn  because  professing  Chris- 


262  A  Great  Sum  Collected 

tians  crowded  the  places  of  worship,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  unconverted.  In  Philadelphia  he 
took  particular  care  that  this  mistake  should 
not  be  repeated,  and  the  results  were  "more 
than  satisfactory,"  "positively  surprising,"  as 
he  said.  Before  the  meetings  closed  it  was  not 
uncommon  for  the  people  to  begin  coming  to 
the  Depot  Tabernacle  as  early  as  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  the  most  wretched  and  forlorn 
classes  were  savingly  reached. 

During  the  continuance  of  the  meetings  Mr. 
iMood}^  made  an  appeal  for  funds  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion building,  then  in  course  of  erection,  and 
secured  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  a  very 
few  minutes.  But  he  asked  nothing  for  himself 
and  his  associate  in  the  revival  work.  In  con- 
nection with  his  appeal  for  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  he  said  that  he  desired  it 
to  be  distinctly  understood  that  they  were  re- 
ceiving no  money  from  the  committee  who  ar- 
ranged for  the  meetings,  and  that  they  declined 
to  have  any  collections  taken  up  in  their  meet- 
ings. As  to  the  photographs  of  himself  and 
Sankey  that  had  been  sold  in  the  city,  they  had 
no  interest  in  them,  and  for  eight  years  he  had 
refused  to  have  any  taken.     It  was  true,  he  said, 


At  Princeton.  2Gi5 

that  there  was  a  royalty  on  the  hymn  books 
used  in  the  services,  but  the  money  from  that 
source  was  paid  over  to  a  committee  consisting 
of  Mr.  George  H.  Stuart,  of  Philadelphia,  Mr. 
William  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  J. 
V.  Farwell,  of  Chicago.  He  did  not  know  what 
had  been  realized  from  the  sale  of  the  books  in 
Philadelphia,  but  in  order  to  satisfy  any  one 
that  no  money  had  been  made  out  of  the  meet- 
ings the  committee  would  give  one  thousand 
dollars  to  the  building  fund  for  which  he  was 
then  making  appeal. 

From  Philadelphia  th^y  went  to  Princeton  on 
the  invitation  of  President  McCosh,  extended  at 
the  request  of  the  students  of  the  university. 
And  so  they  came  into  the  place  sanctified  by 
the  labors  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  the  Ten- 
nents  more  than  a  century  before.  Their  stay 
in  Princeton  was  brief,  but  fruitful  of  great 
good.  The  work  there  had  been  undertaken 
during  the  week  of  prayer  before  they  came, 
and  when  they  left  Princeton  fully  one-fifth  of 
the  five  hundred  students  in  the  university  at 
that  time  had  been  converted  and  the  entire 
body  of  students  was  seriously  impressed  on 
the  subject  of  personal  salvation.  From  that 
influential  center,  as  had  been  the  case  more 


264  In  New  York, 

than  a  hundred  years  before  in  the  days  of  the 
Tennents,  a  gracious  influence  went  out  over  all 
the  land  as  students  wrote  of  the  work  to  friends 
and  kindred  at  various  points. 

Afterwards  they  proceeded  to  New  York, 
where  the  old  depot  of  the  Harlem  Railroad 
had  been  made  ready  for  their  use,  at  a  cost  of 
$10,000.  It  had  been  divided  into  two  great 
halls,  one  seating  six  thousand  five  hundred  and 
the  other  four  thousand.  A  wide  space  between 
the  two  halls  had  been  inclosed  for  inquiry 
rooms,  and  a  convenient  passageway  had  been 
arranged  between  these  rooms  and  the  larger 
halls.  The  place  occupied  a  block,  bounded  by 
Fourth  Avenue,  Madison  Avenue,  Twenty-Sixth 
Street,  and  Twenty-Seventh  Street.  It  was  the 
scene  of  Barnum's  great  pageant,  and  subse- 
quently of  Gilmore's  famous  concerts.  In  this 
''hippodrome"  they  continued  preaching  and 
singing  until  April  19,  1876,  assisted  by  such 
notable  men  and  ministers  as  Dr.  John  Hall, 
Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems,  Dr.  Armitage,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam M.  Taylor,  and  the  venerable  Dr.  Plum- 
mer,  of  South  Carolina.  The  meetings  were 
attended  by  people  of  every  class  and  descrip- 
tion— mechanics,  merchants,  professional  men, 
clerks,  bankers,  and  men  of  science  and  litera- 


Great  lie  suits  at  fJie  MeiropoUs.  265 

ture.  Among  those  who  came  were  such  men 
as  Samuel  J.  Tildeu,  Cyrus  Field,  Thurlow 
Weed,  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  at  that  time  the 
editor  of  Scrihner's  Magazine. 

Special  attention  was  paid  to  the  young  men 
of  the  city  and  to  the  neglected  classes  not  usual- 
ly found  in  the  churches. 

The  number  of  converts  made  was  estimated 
at  live  thousand,  of  whom,  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting,  over  two  thousand  had  already  been 
received  into  the  various  Churches  of  the  city. 
How  many  were  received  in  Churches  away 
from  New  York,  of  course,  could  not  be  ascer- 
tained. 

Large  sums  were  raised  during  the  meetings 
for  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and 
for  other  enterprises  designed  to  rescue  the 
young  from  sin  and  to  save  the  outcast  nuilti- 
tudes  from  despair.  The  commercial  metropo- 
lis of  the  nation  was  never  so  moved  religiously, 
and  from  it  saving  influences  went  forth  through- 
out the  land. 

Six  days  after  the  close  of  the  work  in  New 
York  Moody  joined  his  friend  Whittle,  of  Chi- 
cago, in  a  short  but  effective  meeting  at  Augus- 
ta, Ga.  He  was  as  warmly  received  in  the 
South  as  he  had  been  in  the  North,  and  as  he 


26G  In  the  South  and  Chicago. 

returned  northward  addressed  great  audiences 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Louisville,  Ky.,  St.  Louis 
and  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Thence  he  returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  was 
the  guest  of  his  true  and  tried  friend  John  V. 
Farwell,  who  had  helped  him  from  the  days  of 
his  first  humble  efforts  at  city  mission  work  to 
the  time  when  he  was  moving  with  wondrous 
power  the  largest  congregations  in  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  World.  He  at  once  set  about  re- 
moving the  indebtedness  on  his  old  church  in 
Chicago  Avenue,  which  being  done,  he  sought 
for  a  time  rest  and  recuperation  for  his  over- 
worked mind  and  body. 

AVe  have  thus  followed  the  gi-eat  evangelists 
through  all  their  work  and  wandering  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  for  three  years.  When 
they  began  they  were  scarcely  known  beyond 
the  limits  of  Chicago  and  the  acquaintance  of  a 
small  circle  of  friends  in  the  Eastern  States  and 
a  few  men  in  England.  At  the  end  of  their 
three  years'  tour  they  had  addressed  millions  of 
people  assembled  in  churches,  halls,  and  the 
open  air,  and  their  songs  and  sermons  had  been 
carried  on  the  wings  of  the  press  all  over  the 
world.  In  newspapers  and  cheap  volumes 
Moody's  sermons  w^ere  now  I)eiDg  sold  every- 


The  Work  of  Later  Years.  267 

where — on  the  streets,  on  the  railwjiy  trains, 
at  the  news  depots — and  to  all  classes  of  read- 
ers. Sankey  had  also  by  this  time  brought 
to  pass  a  style  of  religious  music  second  only 
to  the  hymns  of  the  Wesleys  for  popular- 
ity and  power.  While  not  so  elevated  in 
thought  nor  so  finished  in  form  as  the  hymns 
of  the  Wesleys,  ''the  gospel  hymns"  of  "the 
Moody  and  Sankey  period  "  have  an  adaptation 
to  the  3^oung  and  to  the  untrained  masses  that 
gives  them  a  transient  if  not  a  permanent  place 
of  great  importance  and  value  to  the  work  of 
the  evangelical  Churches  of  the  English-speak- 
ing world. 

In  subsequent  years,  at  various  times  and 
places,  these  two  mighty  men  labored  together, 
notably  in  a  second  visit  to  England  in  1882, 
when  they  held  large  meetings  at  the  universi- 
ties of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  with  the  hearty 
cooperation  of  many  officials  and  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  of  England.  The  services  were  very 
remarkable.  ]\Iany  students  were  very  deeply 
impressed,  and  a  number  of  them,  including 
some  of  the  highest  standing,  devoted  them- 
selves to  evangelistic  and  missionary  work. 

Mr.  Moody  directed  also  the  evangelistic  cam- 
paign which  was  carried  on  in  Chicago  during 


268  At  the  World's  Fair  in  1893, 

the  World's  Fair,  in  the  year  1893.  His  first 
meeting  in  Philadelphia  preceded  the  great  Cen- 
tennial Exposition  of  1876,  and  now  his  last 
evangelistic  effort  was  bestowed  on  his  beloved 
Chicago  when  it  was  crowded  with  visitors  from 
every  land  and  clime.  His  chief  care  in  his 
later  years  was  the  prosecution  of  his  work  of 
evangelical  education  at  his  old  home  in  North- 
field,  Mass.  The  Moody  Bible  Institute  in  Chi- 
cago, in  which  Christian  workers  receive  train- 
ing for  the  kind  of  work  to  which  Mr.  Moody 
gave  his  life,  is  also  an  admirable  and  appropri- 
ate monument  to  his  memory. 

But  for  the  purposes  of  this  discussion  it  is 
not  necessary  to  give  further  details  of  the  la- 
bors of  the  great  lay  preacher  and  the  charming 
gospel  singer.  When  they  began  their  first 
tour  they  found  a  considerable  revival  influence 
gone  abroad  before  them,  so  that  they  went 
forth  in  response  to  invitations  extended  by 
men  whose  hearts  were  already  aflame  with 
zeal.  They  had  also  the  advantage  of  the  most 
careful  and  costly  preparations  made  for  their 
coming  to  the  great  cities  of  the  United  King- 
dom and  America.  They  were  welcomed  and 
assisted  by  the  most  influential  classes  on  both 
sides  of  the  sea,  as  neither  the  Wesleys  nor 


Providential  Men  for  a  Revival  Era.      269 

Whitefield  nor  any  others  of  those  who  pre- 
ceded had  ever  been.  Herein  is  seen  conclusive 
proof  of  the  permanent  effect  of  the  revivals  of 
former  times  despite  all  declensions  and  back- 
slidin^s,  and  striking  evidence  of  the  hopeful 
religious  conditions  that  were  already  existing 
when  the  American  evangelists  started  on  their 
long  campaign.  The  English-speaking  world, 
still  affected  by  the  revival  of  1858,  was  on 
the  point  of  taking  fire,  and  they  were  the  prov- 
idential men  who  struck  the  spark  that  started 
the  blaze  which  waited  only  the  touch  of  such 
hands  to  flame  forth.  They  precipitated  the  re- 
vival, and  then  carried  it  to  so  great  a  height 
that  eventually  they  were  in  the  midst  of  a  gen- 
eral movement  of  such  elevation  that  their  pre- 
eminence was  scarcely  perceptible  above  the 
common  level  of  contemporaneous  labors  and 
laborers.  A  national  revival  would  doubtless 
have  come  without  their  efforts,  but  it  is  equal- 
ly certain  that  without  their  coming  it  would 
have  been  a  far  smaller  and  a  very  different 
movement. 

There  were  certain  characteristics  of  their 
work  which  imparted  to  all  the  evangelical 
movements  of  the  time  new  vigor,  and  by  which 
the  religious  life  and  social  problems  of  America 


270  Intensely  Biblical. 

have  been  influenced  so  widely  and  so  benignly 
that  we  will  do  well  to  consider  them. 

Mr.  ]Moody  demonstrated  the  power  of  the 
Bible  over  all  classes  when  used  by  a  man  who 
really  believes  it.  He  made  by  his  own  meth- 
ods a  careful  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
in  his  preaching  he  was  most  emphatically  ''a 
man  of  one  book."  Whether  addressing  the 
outcasts  of  London  or  New  York,  or  the  nobil- 
ity and  men  of  high  estate;  whether  speaking  to 
the  unlettered  masses  or  the  university  com- 
munities of  Princeton,  Edinburgh,  and  Oxford; 
whether  seeldng  to  comfort  a  penitent  soul  or 
convince  a  skeptical  scorner — he  relied  upon  the 
Bible  for  his  arguments  and  his  appeal,  and  he 
won  all  classes.  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland  said  tersely 
in  an  editorial  in  Scrilmcr^s  Ilagazine:  "Mr. 
Tyndall  and  Mr.  Huxley  and  Mr.  Herbert  Spen- 
cer were  not  very  much  in  men's  minds  while 
Mr.  Moody  was  around.  One  thing  was  very 
certain — viz. ,  the  people  wanted  something  that 
Mr.  Moody  had  to  bestow,  and  they  '  went  for 
it.'"  The  something  which  the  people  wanted 
and  went  for  was  the  AVord  of  God,  unmixed 
with  any  philosophic  theorizing  or  scientific  di- 
lutions, and  preached  without  apology  or  mis- 
giving, but  with  the  authority  of  confident  be- 


Not  a  Liberal,  271 

lief.  Like  all  the  great  revivalists,  from  Lu- 
ther to  the  present  time,  Moody  was  intensely 
biblical. 

While  preaching  in  an  untechnical  manner, 
he  was  nevertheless  a  doctrinal  preacher,  and 
his  doctrines  were  those  of  the  orthodox 
Churches.  He  was  not  a  liberal,  nor  did  he 
boast  of  "a  progressive  orthodoxy."  Liberal- 
ism has  never  produced  a  revival  of  religion, 
nor  does  it  promise  to  do  so  at  any  early  day. 
With  the  single  exception  of  his  views  as  to  the 
millennium,  the  teachings  of  Mr  Moody  were  in 
line  with  the  essential  tenets  of  all  the  evangel- 
ical Churches.  Ho  never  professed  to  bring  to 
the  attention  of  his  hearers  so  much  even  as  a 
rediscovered  truth;  he  realized  that  Edwards, 
Whitefield,  the  Tennents,  and  the  Wesleys  had 
completed  all  that  was  required  in  that  di- 
rection. He  preached  not  "  advanced  thought" 
but  the  authoritative  truths  of  an  ancient  reve- 
lation. His  position  was  clearly  set  forth  in  a 
passage  in  one  of  his  sermons,  at  Philadelphia, 
in  which  he  said:  "I  have  been  asked,  'What  is 
the  use  of  these  special  meetings?  Ai'e  there 
not  churches  enough  ?  Are  there  not  ministers 
enough  and  services  enough  and  sermons 
enough  ? '     Yes,  if  sermons  alone  could  save  sin- 


272       Sensible,  PlouSy  and  without  Greed, 

ners,  there  have  been  enough  preached  to  con- 
vert the  whole  of  Christendom.  We  have  only 
come  to  help  you.  In  the  time  of  harvest  extra 
help  is  always  needed,  and,  my  friends,  the  har- 
vest is  here  now."  He  had  no  mind  to  impeach 
the  fidelity  of  the  faithful  sowers  who  had  in 
tears  gone  forth  bearing  the  precious  seed;  but 
he  wished  to  aid  them  as  they  came  with  re- 
joicing, bringing  their  sheaves  with  them.  He 
was  the  farthest  possible  removed  from  that 
style  of  "evangelism,"  so  called,  which  goes 
through  the  land  pouring  forth  from  the  depths 
of  acidulated  conceit  all  sorts  of  abusive  accusa- 
tions against  the  Churches  and  all  manner  of 
unsupported  indictments  of  the  ministry.  He 
was  a  man  of  both  common  sense  and  piety. 

Kot  living  upon  an  income  derived  from  his 
meetings  (and  greater  or  less  according  to  the 
apparent  success  that  attended  his  efforts),  he 
was  never  tempted  to  lower  the  standard  of  reli- 
gion to  win  the  semblance  of  triumph,  to  cor- 
rupt doctrine  to  obtain  popular  favor  and  funds, 
nor  to  berate  the  Churches  to  secure  the  smiles 
and  remuneration  of  a  cynical,  vindictive,  and 
godless  world,  which  stands  ever  ready  to  re- 
ward a  man  who  will  denounce  the  Church  of 
God,  against  which  it  bears  grudges  of  long 


Beaching  the  Masses,  273 

standing  because  of  the  Church's  faithful  re- 
buke of  unrighteousness  and  iniquity.  Bad 
men  will  bless  and  pay  any  misguided  preacher 
who  will  help  them  to  prove  that  the  Church  is 
a  band  of  hypocrites,  but  such  men  could  not 
engage  Moody  to  prosecute  this  libelous  indict- 
ment. He  laid  no  traps  for  their  approval  or 
their  purses.  In  short,  he  had  none  of  the  arts 
of  the  demagogue,  for  he  was  neither  greedy 
of  gain  nor  covetous  of  applause. 

Moody  answered  the  of  t-repeated  question  how 
to  reach  the  masses  by  his  crisp  saying,  "Go 
for  them."  He  reached  the  masses  by  going  in 
reach  of  them.  He  had  ample  precedents  in 
the  methods  of  Jesus  and  the  apostles,  as  well  as 
in  those  of  Wesley,  Whitefield,  and  Finney.  He 
applied  the  underlying  principle  of  those  prece- 
dents to  the  particular  conditions  that  confront- 
ed him,  and  brought  into  prominence  the  halls 
and  tabernacles  into  which  it  is  easier  to  as- 
semble the  unchurched  masses  of  the  great 
cities  than  in  the  more  stately  and  formal  places 
of  worship.  In  this  he  has  been  followed  by 
such  men  as  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  Peter  Thomp- 
son, and  many  others  on  both  sides  of  the  At- 
lantic. The  method  has  been  taken  up  by  the 
British  Wesleyans  and  pushed  to  great  success 
18 


274      The  Gospel  of  the  Hall  and  the  Street. 

in  large  evangelistic  establishments  located  in 
the  heart  of  London  and  elsewhere.  In  these 
great,  warm  centers  of  vigorous  evangelism 
they  have  put  their  strongest  men,  and  backed 
those  strong  men  with  financial  support  running 
into  the  millions.  We  owe,  however,  the  de- 
velopment of  this  method  at  the  outset  to 
Moody  more  than  to  any  other  one  man.  And 
with  the  growth  of  urban  populations  (a  con- 
spicuous feature  of  the  present  time)  the  evan- 
gelical Churches  will  have  to  make  full  proof  of 
the  ministry  of  the  hall  as  well  as  of  the  gospel 
of  the  open  air. 

Incidentally  to  the  ministry  of  Moody  and 
Sankey,  and  growing  out  of  it,  were  several 
marked  and  timely  effects  on  the  welfare  of  the 
Great  Republic. 

The  influence  of  their  sermons  and  songs, 
which  breathed  a  spirit  of  unearthly  tenderness 
and  love,  helped  to  heal  the  wounded  spirits 
all  over  the  country  after  the  Civil  War,  when 
so  many  homes  were  bereaved.  "What  a 
Friend  Ave  have  in  Jesus!"  went  ringing  over 
the  land  on  the  wings  of  every  wind,  and  the 
friendless  and  forsaken  took  heart  again,  and 
the  discouraged  and  despairing  were  cheered  to 
renewed  zeal  and  hope. 


Healing  Wounds  and  Sooth in<j  Irritations.  275 

In  their  meetings  the  poor  and  neglected 
came  in  brotherly  contact  with  the  best  among 
the  rich  and  successful  classes,  and  thereby  con- 
fidence was  inspired  in  the  souls  of  the  unfortu- 
nate and  compassion  in  the  hearts  of  the  opu- 
lent, to  the  advantage  of  all  parties.  Their 
work,  therefore,  not  only  tended  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  war  that  Wi^s  passed,  but  it  did 
also  tend  to  avert  and  forestall  the  perilous  con- 
flict of  the  irritable  industrialism  of  the  days 
that  were  to  come.  If  in  our  country  perfect 
success  has  not  been  realized  in  this  direction, 
the  partial  failure  is  easily  explained  by  the 
fact  that  disturbances  between  labor  and  capital 
have  been  most  frequent  in  those  industries  in 
which  the  laborers  have  been  brought  from  the 
unevangelized  masses  of  Continental  Europe, 
and  the  capital  has  been  supplied  by  men  who. 
f  eared  not  God  nor  regarded  man.  There  is  peace 
where  evangelical  Christianity  prevails,  and  this 
peace  would  extend  to  all  classes  and  districts  if 
the  Churches  had  sufliciently  practiced  in  broth- 
erly zeal  Moody's  maxim,  ^'Go  for  them,"  which 
is  but  the  rough,  Western  translation  of  the 
words  of  Jesus:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  It  is  the 
gospel  for  all  lands  and  all  times,  but  especial- 


276        No  Paganism  in  Pulpit  or  Choir, 

\y  for  an  age  of  industrialism.  It  is  another 
form  of  John  Wesley's  enthusiastic  declara- 
tion, "The  world  is  my  parish,"  and  it  is  the 
antithesis  of  that  effeminate,  timid,  and  exclu- 
sive Christianity  that  selfishly  dreams  that  its 
parish  is  the  whole  world.  The  gospel  of  Moody 
and  Sankey  was  the  exemplification  of  the  say- 
ing of  the  Scripture:  "The  rich  and  the  poor 
meet  together:  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them 
all."  Their  sermons  and  their  songs  were  as 
popular  and  democratic  as  .the  gospel  from 
which  they  arose.  No  paganism,  in  pulpit  or 
choir,  ever  found  for  one  moment  a  place  in 
their  methods  and  plans.  They  had  advanced 
too  far  away  from  modish  and  maimed  Chris- 
tianity, too  far  from  Buddhism  and  from  all 
other  systems  of  caste  and  priestcraft,  too  far 
from  both  foreign  and  domestic  paganism,  for 
that  sort  of  trifling  when  the  people  came  to- 
gether to  worship  God,  and  not  to  have  them- 
selves played  on  by  an  aesthetic  combination  of 
declamation  and  Sunday  opera,  more  or  less  re- 
ligious in  its  nature.  And  the  common  people, 
who  always  know  the  difference  between  a  real 
preacher  and  a  mere  performer,  heard  them 
gladly.  What  they  accomplished  in  the  way 
of  soothing  the  irritations  of  the  social  sys- 


Unifying  the  Anglo-Saxon  Nations,       277 

tern,  and  of  postponing  if  not  preventing  the 
worst  industrial  disorder,  can  scarcely  be  over- 
estimated. 

Like  Whitefield,  Finney,  and  Nettle  ton,  who 
came  before  him,  and  like  not  a  few  who  have 
come  after  him,  Mr.  Moody  did  much  to  bind  to- 
gether in  the  holiest  and  most  potent  bonds  of 
sympathy  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom 
and  those  of  the  Great  Republic.  And  the  songs 
of  Charles  Wesley  and  Ira  Sankey  are  the  hymns 
of  evangelical  Christendom.  This  unifying  of 
the  English-speaking  race  had  more  than  a  sen- 
timental value  in  the  Spanish-American  War, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  it  will  have  a  still 
more  conspicuous  place  among  the  instrumen- 
talities of  Providence  for  the  redemption  of  the 
nations  in  the  years  at  hand. 

This  treatment  of  "The  Revival  in  the  Days  of 
Moody  and  Sankey  '*'  would  be  incomplete  if  no 
mention  were  made  of  those  national  and  inter- 
national conferences  and  councils  which  have 
become  so  common  in  the  English-speaking 
world  during  the  last  fifty  years,  which  have 
done  so  much  to  unify  the  Anglo-Saxon  peoples. 
Besides  the  Evangelical  Alliance  (previously 
mentioned),  at  whose  bidding  the  evangelical 
Churches  of  Christendom  annually  unite  in  a 


278  National  Unifij,  International  Federation. 

"week  of  prayer,-'  there  are  many  others  of 
scarcely  less  prominence  and  usefulness.  There 
is  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  with 
its  national  and  international  assemblies  and 
world-wide  efforts  and  enterprises.  There  is 
also  that  other  undenominational  organization, 
the  International  Sunday  School  Association, 
from  which  is  derived  the  uniform  system  of 
Scripture  lessons  in  which  the  evangelical 
Churches  of  the  w^orld  unite  in  weekly  study. 
And  then  there  are  the  several  denominational 
organizations,  such  as  the  Ecumenical  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodists,  the  Pan- Anglican  Coun- 
cil, and  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Assembly,  to- 
gether with  the  meetings  of  the  various  socie- 
ties of  the  young  people  of  the  Churches — all  of 
which  must  tell  for  national  unity  and  interna- 
tional federation.  And,  over  and  above  all  the 
rest,  must  be  mentioned  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference of  Foreign  Missions,  of  1900,  which 
was  composed  of  delegates  from  all  the  Churches 
and  societies  engaged  in  such  work  throughout 
the  earth;  was  presided  over  by  ex-President 
Benjamin  H.  Harrison,  a. devout  Presbyterian; 
was  welcomed  to  the  city  and  State  of  New 
York  by  Governor  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  stren- 
uous member  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church; 


A  Striking  Confnist.  279 

and  was  greeted  on  behalf  of  the  nation  ])y  Pres- 
ident William  McKinley,  a  fervent  Methodist. 
This  assembly  was  in  session  in  the  city  of  New 
York  from  April  21  to  May  1, 1900— at  the  out- 
set of  the  twentieth  century— to  concert  plans 
for  the  ev^angelization  of  the  world. 

How  changed  the  conditions  in  our  country 
since  the  opening  of  the  year  1800,  when  infi- 
delity in  the  East  and  barbarism  in  the  West 
threatened  the  life  of  religion  and  menaced  the 
stability  of  the  government!  At  the  opening 
of  the  nineteenth  century  the  followers  of  Vol- 
taire gleefully  supposed  that  the  prediction  of 
that  high  priest  of  doubt  and  prophet  of  de- 
spair, to  the  effect  that  in  the  next  generation 
Christianity  would  be  overthrown  throughout 
the  civilized  world,  was  about  to  be  fulfilled. 
Thomas  Jefferson,  the  liberal,  was  the  idol  of 
the  masses,  and  the  Church  of  McKinley,  the 
Methodist,  had  scarcely  a  foothold  in  the  land. 
Aaron  Burr  was  honored  with  high  political 
station,  and  his  cousin,  the  devout  Timothy 
D wight,  was  supposed  to  represent  an  expiring 
minority  of  credulous  saints.  But  now,  at  the 
opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  this  conven- 
tion of  world-wide  representation  and  world- 
encompassing  enthusiasm  sat  down  in  the  me- 


280  Bevivcds  in  the  Front  Bank, 

tropolis  of  the  Western  World  to  confer  with 
reference  to  the  establishment  of  Christ's  king- 
dom in  all  *  '"^  ^arth;  and  a  Methodist  President 
bade  them  welcome  to  the  shores  of  the  most 
evangelical  nation  on  the  planet,  while  a  Pres- 
byterian moderator  kept  the  body  in  order  as 
its  fervent  proceedings  went  on.  The  names  of 
some  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  were  enrolled  among  its  members,  and  the 
spirit  which  breathed  in  every  breast  was  that 
of  a  brotherhood  of  faith  undisturbed  by  na- 
tional jealousies  or  sectarian  ambitions.  They 
represented  the  highest  thought  and  the  noblest 
aspirations  of  the  English-speaking  nations,  and 
all  felt  at  home  under  the  protection  of  the  best 
government  in  the  world. 

What  had  brought  the  Great  Republic  to  such 
a  position  of  peace  and  power  over  a  century- 
long  journey  beset  with  such  fearful  perils  and 
grievous  trials  ?  Whatever  else  may  have  con- 
tributed to  the  safeguarding  forces  which  helped 
to  bring  it  triumphantly  over  the  dangerous 
way,  revivals  of  religion  must  be  placed  in  the 
front  rank.  They  magnified  its  securities, 
strengthened  its  defenses,  and  averted  its  per- 
ils. 


IX. 
EVANGELICAL  CHRISTIANITY  THE  SE- 
CURITY OF  THE  GREAT  REPUBLIC 
AND  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD. 


The  hope  of  the  Church  is  in  revivals  of  religion — 
continueu.  powerful,  general  revivals. — D7\  Koah  Por- 
ter. 

This  New  Wo^-kl  is  probably  now  discovered,  that 
the  new  and  most  glorious  state  of  God's  Church  on 
earth  might  commence  there;  that  God  might  in  it  be- 
gin a  new  world  in  a  spiritual  respect,  when  he  creates 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. — From  the  "■Narra- 
tive of  the  Great  Awakening,"'  by  Jonathan  Edivards. 

Tliere  never  lias  been  good  done  in  the  world  except- 
ing by  the  faithful  preaching  of  evangelical  truth.  From 
the  days  of  the  apostles  down  to  this  time,  there  have 
been  no  victories  won,  no  spiritual  successes  obtained, 
except  by  the  doctrines  which  wrought  deliverance  a 
hundred  j^ears  ago.  Where  are  the  conquests  of  Xeolo- 
gianism  and  Tractarianism  over  heathenism,  irreligion, 
immorality?  Where  are  the  nations  the}"  have  Chris- 
tianized, the  parishes  the}'  have  evangelized,  the  towns 
they  have  turned  from  darkness  to  light?  You  may 
well  ask,  Where?  You  will  get  no  answer.  The  good 
that  has  been  done  in  the  world,  however  small,  has 
always  been  done  by  evangelical  doctrines;  and  if  men 
who  are  not  called  "evangelical"'  have  had  successes, 
they  have  had  them  by  using  evangelical  weapons. — J. 
C.  Ryle,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishojo  of  Liverpool. 

y     I  make  no  doubt  that  Methodism,  notwithstanding 
all  the  wiles  of  Satan,  is  designed  by  Divine  Providence 
to  introduce  the  approaching  millennium.  —  Vincent  Per- 
ronet,  Vicar  of  Shoreham. 
(282) 


IX. 

EVANGELICAL  CHRISTIANITY  THE  SECURITY 

OF  THE  GREAT  REPUBLIC  AND  THE 

HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD. 

The  welfare  of  the  Great  Republic  and  the 
religious  condition  of  the  world  in  the  future 
are  so  intimately  related  that  what  secures  the 
one  vitally  affects  the  other.  In  this  age  no  na- 
tion liveth  unto  itself,  and  no  nation  can  die 
alone — least  of  all  the  United  States.  All  are 
members  one  of  another,  and  national  isolation 
is  no  longer  possible. 

Moreover,  moral  forces  are  always  aggressive. 
They  are  intolerant  of  opposition,  and  by  their 
very  nature  aspire  to  universal  dominion.  Hence 
a  religion  which  is  content  to  be  the  faith  of  a 
part  only  of  the  world  confesses  thereby  its  un- 
fitness for  the  acceptance  of  any  portion  of 
mankind,  and  is  a  doomed  and  dying  system. 
Wherefore  as  the  nations,  through  the  virtual 
annulling  of  the  effects  of  time  and  space  by 
the  swift  processes  of  modern  communication, 
come  closer  and  closer  together,  the  earth  must 
inevitably  become  more  uniform  in  religion  and 
moral  government.     A  generation   ago  one  of 

(283) 


284  Religious  Bases  of  English-speaking  Nations. 

the  gi'eat  statesmen  of  America  declared  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  United  States  to  con- 
tinue long  with  a  part  of  them  slaveholding 
States  and  part  of  them  free-soil  States.  His- 
tory has  vindicated  the  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment. The  ends  of  the  earth  are  closer  together 
at  the  present  hour  than  were  the  extremities  of 
our  country  in  1860,  and  the  world  must  soon 
be  all  Christian  or  all  antichristian.  Skepti- 
cism and  superstition  must  reign  everywhere,  or 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  must  be  the  religion 
of  the  race  of  man. 

"We  have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  that  civil 
governments  rest  on  religious  bases,  and  that 
they  cannot  rise  higher  nor  remain  longer  than 
the  nature  of  their  foundations  allows.  We  have 
seen  also  that  the  United  States  are  a  nation 
founded  by  faith  and  sustained  and  developed 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  series  of  na- 
tional revivals  of  the  faith  of  the  founders,  ex- 
tending o^'er  a  period  of  more  than  one  hundred 
years.  While  thus  blessed  by  these  gi*eat  re- 
vivals, the  nation  has  come  to  its  present  posi- 
tion of  prosperity  and  power.  Advancing  with 
it,  and  by  the  inspiration  of  the  same  faith  and 
like  revivals,  the  British  nation  has  also  risen 
to  international  leadership. 


The  Visions  of  Edwards  and  Perronet.    285 

Can  this  nation,  thus  born  and  nourished  by 
faith,  renounce  now  the  source  of  its  greatness 
without  losing  its  freedom  and  rushing  to  ruin  ? 
Can  it  fall  without  pulling  down  the  govern- 
ments of  the  English-speaking  world  and  dis- 
couraging the  hope  of  constitutional  liberty  in 
all  lands  ?  Can  it  and  its  kindred  Anglo-Saxon 
peoples  perish  without  extinguishing  the  light 
by  which  all  the  nations  are  being  led  into  the 
perfect  day,  and  ushering  in  the  darkest  age 
our  benighted  planet  has  ever  known  ? 

In  his  "Narrative"  of  the  great  awakening 
Jonathan  Edwards  devoted  one  entire  section 
to  the  consideration  of  "  the  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  the  great  work  of  God  for  the  world's 
conversion  may  begin  in  America."  Like  the 
Hebrew  prophets  were  wont  to  do,  he  found  in 
the  spiritual  force  that  was  upon  him  and  with- 
in him  the  promise  of  world-wide  glory.  In 
the  same  buoyant  hopefulness  spoke  Vincent 
Perronet,  the  devout  Vicar  of  Shoreham,  when 
at  a  little  later  time  he  said  of  the  contempora- 
neous Wesleyan  revival  in  England:  "I  make 
no  doubt  that  Methodism,  notwithstanding  all 
the  wiles  of  Satan,  is  designed  by  Divine  Prov- 
idence to  introduce   the  approaching   millen- 


286  The  Hope  of  Mankind. 

If  the  vision  of  Edwards  is  extended  to  in- 
clude the  English-speaking  world,  and  that  of 
Perronet  is  widened  to  include  all  of  the  evan- 
gelical or  revivalistic  Churches,  the  circles  of 
their  faith  and  hope  will  be  found  exactly  coin- 
cident, and  the  circumference  of  their  common 
expectation  will  not  include  anything  unreason- 
able. 

Perhaps,  after  all,  neither  was  very  wide  of 
the  mark.  The  hope  of  mankind  is  in  the  keep- 
ing of  the  Anglo-Saxon  nations,  led  by  the 
United  States;  and  evangelical  Christianity, 
with  Methodism  in  the  forefront,  is  the  hope  of 
these  nations.  If  these  nations  should  perish, 
and  the  evangelistic  type  of  religion  which  they 
hold  should  fail,  the  chill  which  would  fall  on 
the  race  of  man  would  be  mortal.  And  they 
cannot  reasonably  hope  to  endure  merely  be- 
cause they  are  at  present  powerful.  Before 
them  have  been  powerful  nations  which  have 
utterly  ^mssed  away,  and  they  too  may  be  over- 
thrown by  the  same  destructive  influences  which' 
have  overcome  others. 

The  perils  of  nations  are  not  without  but 
within  themselves,  and  they  are  always  moral 
perils.  No  nation  was  ever  destroyed  by  the 
murderous  attacks  of  its  enemies;  all  that  have 


Evangelical  Christianity  Perfect  Defense,  287 

gone  down  fell  as  suicides  die^))y  their  OAvn 
hands. 

There  is  no  real  danger  threatening  the  An- 
glo-Saxon nations  to-day  that  is  not  a  moral 
danger  and  a  domestic  danger.  There  is  not  a 
peril  besetting  them  against  which  evangelical 
Christianity  does  not  offer  a  perfect  defense; 
and  this  is  especially  true  of  the  Great  Re- 
public. 

Is  the  republic  threatened  by  selfish  wealth 
and  angry  want,  living  near  as  neighbors  while 
fierce  as  foes?  Did  not  the  Wesleyan  revival 
meet  and  master  similar  conditions  in  England  ? 
What  said  the  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright  very  re- 
cently upon  this  subject?  In  a  signed  article 
on  John  Wesley,  contributed  to  the  Northiuest- 
ern  Christian  Advocate^  of  Chicago,  he  said: 
'''A  body  W'ithout  spirit  is  dead  matter,  and  this 
is  quite  true  when  we  consider  mechanical  pow- 
ers. There  must  be  intellectual  forces  involved; 
and,  further,  there  must  be  the  comprehension 
of  the  spiritual  forces  of  industry  in  order  to 
bring  them  to  their  fruitage.  It  is  in  this  that 
the  influence  of  John  Wesley  in  social  and  in- 
dustrial matters,  as  well  as  in  the  religious  life 
of  the  world,  has  been  felt;  and  herein  he  was  a 
power  greater  than  industry,  greater  than  the 


288      Miners  and  "a  Democratic  Church^ 

new  mechanical  contrivances,  greater  than  the 
industrial  pride  and  ambition  of  England."  In 
the  same  issue  of  the  paper  mentioned  Mr. 
Threlfell,  Secretary  of  the  Labor  Association 
of  England,  testifies  to  the  persistence  of  the 
saving  and  soothing  influence  of  the  Wesley  an 
revival  to  this  day  among  the  miners  of  Great 
Britain.  He  says:  "Methodism  has  undoubt- 
edly played  a  very  important  part  in  organi- 
zing miners.  No  one  can  read  the  detailed  his- 
tory of  the  great  strikes  in  the  mining  world 
without  observing  how  many  of  the  leaders  are 
connected  with  some  branch  of  the  Methodist 
Church.  .  .  .  Methodism  has  become  the 
dominant  faith  of  the  miners.  Such  affinity  of 
the  vanguard  of  labor  for  this  particular  Church 
is  not  only  eloquent  for  the  past,  but  is  signifi- 
cant for  the  future.  It  is  not  based  on  local 
peculiarities,  upon  conditions  of  employment, 
upon  tradition  or  material  surroundings,  but 
springs  from  the  fact  that  Methodism  has  most 
nearly  approached  the  miner's  conception  of  a 
democratic  Church.  Its  spiritual  zeal  aroused 
him.  Its  democratic  instincts  were  in  keeping 
with  his  political  aspirations,  and  its  organizing 
ability  educated  him  in  the  principles  of  unity. 
.     .     .     Can  there  be  any  more  striking  tribute 


''Converting  the  Soul"  289 

to  the  influence  of  Methodism  upon  the  mining 
community  than  the  fact  that  five  mining  mem- 
bers in  the  present  House  of  Commons  have  all 
been  trained  in  the  Methodist  Church,  four  be- 
ing local  preachers?  In  the  Parliament  of  1858 
there  were  six." 

Principal  A.  M.  Fairbairn,  in  his  carefully 
considered  volume  entitled  ' '  Religion  in  Histo- 
ry and  Modern  Life,"  bears  similar  testimony 
in  these  words:  "Methodism,  in  its  several 
branches,  has  done  more  for  the  conversion  and 
reconciliation  of  certain  of  the  industrial  classes 
to  religion  than  any  other  English  Church.  It 
is  but  just  to  say  that  the  enfranchisement  of 
our  mining  and  agricultural  populations  made 
this  evident — that  their  regulative  ideas  were 
religious  rather  than  utilitarian  and  -  secular. 
The  politician  finds,  when  he  addresses  the  peas- 
antry, that  he  has  to  appeal  to  more  distinctly 
ethical  and  religious  principles  than  when  he 
addresses  the  upper  or  middle  classes.  And  we 
may  hope  that  even  in  a  politician  the  princi- 
ples he  appeals  to  may  ultimately  afl'ect  his  pol- 
icy. Meanwhile,  we  simply  note  that  it  is  the 
local  preacher  rather  than  the  secularist  lecturer 
who  has,  while  converting  the  soul,  really  formed 
the  mind  of  the  miner  and  the  laborer,  and  who 
19 


290        A  "Peculiarly  Fortunate  Bevival'^ 

now  so  largely  represents  the  ideas  he  seeks,  in 
his  dim  and  inarticulate  way,  to  see  applied  to 
national  policy  and  legislation." 

If  this  combined  testimony  of  a  student  of  in- 
dustrial statistics  and  conditions,  a  labor  leader 
and  secretary  of  a  labor  organization,  and  a  re- 
ligious philosopher,  be  not  sufficient,  let  us  recur 
to  the  words  of  the  skeptical  historian,  Lecky, 
who  said  that  he  conceived  that  it.  was  peculiarly 
fortunate  for  England  that  the  rise  of  indus- 
trialism "  should  have  been  preceded  by  a  reli- 
gious revival  which  opened  a  new  spring  of 
moral  and  religious  energy  among  the  poor,  and 
at  the  same  time  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  the 
philanthropy  of  the  rich." 

The  results  thus  attributed  to  the  Wesleyan 
revival  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  century 
we  have  seen  following  also  the  revival  in  the 
days  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey  meetings  in 
America  in  the  nineteenth  centuiy.  Neither 
time  nor  place  forestalls  the  operation  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  evangelical  Christian- 
ity. When  they  prevail  they  subdue  the  self- 
ishness of  wealth  and  the  sensitiveness  of  pov- 
erty, casting  down  the  animosities  of  class 
against  class,  and  establishing  the  noblest  broth- 
erhood of  souls. 


Revivals  or  Revolutions.  291 

it  is  to  be  feared  that  neither  capital  nor  labor 
realizes  its  indebtedness  to  revivals  in  the  past, 
or  comprehends  how  it  must  rely  on  evangelical 
religion  in  the  future.  Nothing  else  can  save 
either.  With  both  parties  armed  with  imple- 
ments of  industrial  warfare,  practically  irresist- 
ible, they  will  destroy  each  other,  unless  selfish- 
ness is  exorcised  from  the  hearts  of  both;  and 
this  kind  goeth  not  out  but  by  the  mighty 
prayers  and  fastings  of  evangelical  religion. 
The  dainty  and  impotent  forms  of  ritualism  or 
the  timid  and  equivocal  utterances  of  rational- 
ism are  worse  than  useless  in  composing  the 
difficulties  of  these  angered  and  able  combatants. 
They  will  dwell  together  as  brothers  as  soon  as 
they  really  are  brothers,  and  that  will  be  when 
they  are  born  again.  Great  revivals,  which 
shall  cause  men  to  realize  in  the  agonies  of  pen- 
itence and  the  raptures  of  regenerating  grace 
the  love  of  their  Heavenly  Father,  will  draw 
them  into  the  most  affectionate  relations  of 
brotherhood.  This  is  the  cure  for  congested 
wealth  and  consuming  poverty.  This  will  ex- 
tinguish the  fires  of  socialism,  as  travelers  es- 
cape the  perils  of  prairie  fires  by  burning  the 
grass  around  their  feet  and  standing  on  the 
burned  spot.     This  will  establish  a  Christian 


292  The  Peril  of  Immigration, 

communism,  which  does  not  say,  "We, shall 
have  all  things  equal  by  my  taking  from  thee 
what  is  thine;""  but  which  generously  declares, 
"We  shall  have  all  things  equal  by  my  giving 
to  thee  what  is  mine."  Against  such  socialism 
there  is  no  law,  for  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  all 
law. 

But  what,  says  some  one,  of  the  peril  of  im- 
migration that  threatens  the  Great  Republic? 
Well,  the  nation  has  been  solving  that  problem 
by  revivals  ever  since  the  founding  of  the  fii'st 
<3olonies.  That  solution  of  the  problem  has  be- 
come the  established  method  in  America,  and 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  better  in  sight.  It 
was  entirely  adequate  in  colonial  times,  and  it 
was  found  sufficient  in  the  time  of  the  great  re- 
vival of  1800.  Mr.  Moody  found  the  same 
prescription  efficacious  in  the  slums  of  Chicago, 
and  it  worked  well  in  the  hands  of  Jerry  Mc- 
Auley  on  the  Bowery  and  in  the  Water  Street 
Mission.  Of  course  such  a  solution  means  noth- 
ing to  men  who  have  no  more  than  an  academic 
interest  in  the  great  problem  presented  by  the 
foreign  settlements  in  the  cities  and  the  isolated 
settler  in  -the  far  West.  Ritualism  and  ration- 
alism can  do  nothing  for  the  foreigner  in  the 
city;  all  that  sort  of  influence  has  been  tried  on 


Tliat  Gospel  That  Is  Heard  and  Heeded.  293 

him  in  the  Old  World  to  no  purpose.  And  of 
course  the  lonely  frontiersman  has  no  time  for 
such  child's  play.  But  the  gospel  of  a  dying 
Saviour's  love,  spoken  to  either  the  foreigner  in 
the  city  or  to  the  dweller  of  the  plains,  by  lips 
that  quiver  vrith  the  warm  emotions  of  a  broth- 
erly heart,  will  be  heard  and  heeded.  This  eK- 
pedient  was  effective  wherever  applied  to  the 
festering  sores  of  the  city  life  in  the  Roman 
Empire  and  to  the  emigrant  bands  of  the  rest- 
less first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  it  will 
be  potent  for  good  in  the  remotest  corners  of 
the  great  West  and  the  darkest  alleys  of  our 
overcrowded  cities  in  all  the  years  to  come.  A 
great  revival  saved  the  West  in  1800:  can  a  bet- 
ter prescription  be  applied  to  it  now  ?  A  great 
revival  rescued  the  cities  in  1858:  can  they  be 
otherwise  redeemed  yow? 

But  is  there  not  a  great  menace  in  Romanism  ? 
Undoubtedly;  but  Romanism  could  not  defeat 
evangelical  Christianity  in  the  days  of  Martin 
Luther  in  Germany  and  of  Ridley  and  Latimer 
in  England,  when  the  sword  and  the  fagot  were 
in  its  hands,  and  when  it  wielded  the  civil  power 
for  the  extermination  of  the  faithful.  It  sure- 
ly cannot  withstand  evangelical  religion  in  this 
day  and  in  this  free  land.     It  has  no  songs  like 


294  "  The  Biggest  Grace  of  Popery:' 

those  of  Watts  and  AVesley  and  Sankey,  with 
which  to  cheer  its  benighted  hosts.  The  spirit 
of  the  age  is  against  its  incredible  dogmas.  Let 
the  Romanists  come  on  to  America;  their  com- 
ing will  save  the  trouble  and  expense  of  sending 
the  gospel  to  the  lands  where  they  live  in  pov- 
erty, ignorance,  and  national  decadence.  We 
can  handle  the  hosts  of  Komanism  better  here 
than  in  papal  lands.  Evangelical  Christianity 
has  reached  and  saved  millions  of  them  already. 
The  total  Romish  population  in  the  United 
States  does  not  equal  the  Roman  Catholic  im- 
migrants who  have  come  to  our  shores.  It  has 
been  truly  said  that  "this  country  is  the  biggest 
grave  for  i)opery  ever  dug  on  the  earth."  And 
the  evangelical  Churches  are  preaching  the  gos- 
pel of  a  spiritual  Christianity  in  Roman  Catho- 
lic countries.  There  are  more  Methodists  in  the 
city  of  Rome  to-day,  not  to  mention  other  evan- 
gelical Christians  there,  than  there  were  Chris- 
tians in  imperial  Rome  when  Paul  declared  in 
his  letter  to  the  Romans  that  he  was  not 
ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  for  it  was  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation.  The.same  power 
still  resides  in  the  gospel,  and  it  will  be  found 
thus  potential  to  redeem  by  all  those  evangelical 
Churches  who  show  themselves  as  ready  as  was 


TJncarnal  hut  Potcerfiil  Weapons,        296 

the  great  apostle  to  preach  the  gospel  "to  them 
who  are  in  Rome  also."  It  goes  without  the 
saying  that  an  apish  Romanizing  Church  can  do 
nothing  to  withstand  the  peril  of  Romanism. 
As  little  can  a  disputatious  ministry  that  can 
find  nothing  better  than  a  controversy  with 
which  to  reach  a  follower  of  the  pope. 

Intemperance,  Mormonism,  socialism,  spirit- 
ualism, "Christian  Science,"  and  every  other 
high,  or  low,  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against 
the  knowledge  of  God  may  be  easily  overthrown 
by  the  uncarnal  but  powerful  weapons  which  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  has  put  at  the  disposal 
of  fervent  faith  and  loving  zeal.  But  these 
strongholds  will  not  yield  to  the  assaults  of  a 
paralytic  preaching  of  theological  uncertainty, 
nor  to  the  empt}^  parade  of  a  religious  tableau. 
The  walls  of  Jericho  fell  not  at  the  mellifluous 
notes  of  delicate  minstrelsy,  nor  at  the  bidding 
of  a  hesitant  faith,  but  by  the  rude,  loud  blast 
of  the  ram's  horn,  sounded  by  men  who  trusted 
in  the  living  God. 

There  is  not  a  peril  menacing  the  Great  Re- 
public to-day  that,  in  some  form  or  other,  has 
not  been  met  and  overcome  by  revivals — great, 
general  revivals— during  the  past.  These  perils 
gather  strength  and  reappear  from  time  to  time. 


296     Supremacy  in  the  Family  of  Nation^* 

So  must  the  revivals  of  religion.  The  revival-, 
istic  spirit  and  methods  of  the  fathers  of  the 
republic  will  prevail  in  our  generation  if  their 
children  and  children's  children  walk  and  work 
in  the  same  way  of  faith. 

But  this  evangelical  Christianity  is  not  only 
the  security  of  the  republic;  it  is  also  the  hope 
of  the  world.  That  this  claim  may  not  appear 
extravagant,  let  us  consider  several  facts  that  are 
known  and  read  of  all  men. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  nations — by  which  term  is 
meant  not  only  the  people  directly  descended 
from  the  Angles  and  the  Saxons,  but  those  also 
who,  by  collateral  descent  or  by  political  associ- 
ation with  them,  have  been  conformed  to  their 
type  and  identified  with  their  destiny — occupy 
the  position  of  supremacy  in  the  family  of  na- 
tions to-day,  and  their  rise  to  this  elevation  has 
been  coetaneous  with  the  period  of  the  great  re- 
vivals among  them,  which  have  passed  in  review 
before  us.  In  the  year  1700,  scarcely  more  than 
thirty  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  great 
awakening  in  America  and  the  rise  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  revival  in  England,  this  race  numbered 
less  than  6,000,000  souls.  By  the  year  1800, 
when  another  great  revival  began  and  a  century 
of  revivals  opened,  they  had  increased  to  20,- 


The  Future  of  Mankind.  297 

500,000.  They  now  number  more  than  130,- 
000,000;  control  above  one-fourth  of  the  land 
surface  of  the  earth;  exercise  authority  over 
one- third  of  the  world's  population;  own  half 
of  the  wealth  of  the  globe,  including  the  richest 
mines  of  gold,  iron,  and  coal;  occupy  all  the 
strategic  points  on  the  planet;  command  the 
highways  on  the  sea  and  the  railways  on  the 
land;  dominate  the  commerce  of  mankind,  and 
transmit  its  news.  Their  colonies  are  in  every 
continent  and  on  the  isles  of  the  sea,  and  from 
every  colony  their  language,  laws,  and  religion 
are  spread  in  all  directions.  It  is,  therefore,  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that  as  these  nations  go  so 
will  go  the  world.  In  view  of  the  commanding 
position  of  the  United  States  in  this  family  of 
Anglo-Saxon  peoples,  some  have  ventured  to 
affirm  that  as  goes  the  United  States  so  will  go 
the  world.  But  whether  that  thesis  is  or  is  not 
tenable,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
into  the  hands  of  the  English-speaking  nations 
has  been  given  the  future  of  nmnkind  for  centu- 
ries to  come. 

If  civil  liberty  and  a  spiritual  Christianity  are 
to  become  the  possession  of  all  the  children  of 
men,  they  must  be  communicated  by  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples.     Nowhere  else  is  either  the  dis- 


298   Averting  Perils  and  Enhancing  Victories. 

position  or  the  resources  required  for  so  great 
an  achievement.  Nor  can  any  one  of  them  do 
the  mighty  work  alone.  They  must  stand  to- 
gether and  labor  together  if  the^^  accomplish  the 
ends  of  this  high  mission  which  is  so  manifestly 
set  before  them. 

Let  us  now  recall  what  we  have  discovered 
concerning  their  religious  history  during  the 
centuries  in  which  they  have  been  steadily  ad- 
vancing to  their  present  eminence.  AVe  have 
seen  great  revivals  among  them,  elevating  their 
lives  and  purifying  their  laws,  opening  vast 
tracts  for  their  habitation  and  rescuing  the 
early  settlers  in  those  regions  from  the  dangers 
and  deterioration  of  frontier  life,  quickening 
industry  and  cleansing  it  from  the  forces  of 
self-destruction,  overthrowing  doubt  and  re- 
storing faith,  healing  national  alienations  and 
removing  international  antipathies — in  short, 
helping  to  avert  every  peril  that  has  beset  them, 
and  assisting  to  enhance  every  victory  that  has 
come  to  them. 

Can  we,  then,  reasonably  suppose  that  there  is 
any  hope  for  these  nations,  or  for  the  world  de- 
pendent upon  them,  outside  of  the  evangelical  re- 
ligion which  has  been  their  inspiration  and  con- 
stant attendant  in  all  the  way  over  which  they 


iVb  Pinched  or  Parahjtic  Faith  Will  Do,  299 

have  come?  This  faith  has  brought  them  safe 
thus  far;  can  they  go  forward  if  they  abandon  it  ? 

It  is  as  certain  as  any  generalization  in  the 
philosophy  of  history  can  be  that  these  nations 
are  not  going  to  renounce  Christianity,  nor  ex- 
change the  type  of  Christianity  under  which  they 
have  grown  to  greatness  for  any  other.  The 
doctrines  and  life  of  evangelical  Christianity 
will  hold  the  field  against  all  comers,  whether 
they  be  the  forces  of  doubt  denying  all  faith,  or 
the  companies  of  rationalism  or  ritualism  with 
their  pinched  and  paralytic  faiths.  A  robust 
evangelism,  having,  like  the  angel  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach,  and  sing- 
ing as  a  seraph  as  it  files,  is  the  form  of  religion 
to  which  these  nations  will  cling,  and  the  religion 
which  they  will  impart  to  mankind  if  they  suc- 
ceed in  evangelizing  the  globe. 

Moreover,  this  is  the  only  type  of  religion 
which  they  could  carry  throughout  the  earth, 
even  if  they  were  of  a  mind  to  try  some  other 
sort.  Evangelical  Christianity  only  has  in  it 
the  elements  of  universality  and  permanence. 
Doubt  is  transient,  ritualism  is  local.  All  forms 
of  rationalism  are  the  fieeting  fashions  with 
which  men  of  an  indolent  and  curious  culture 
interest  themselves  for  an  hour,  and  ecclesias- 


300  As  Broad  as  Bunian  Need 

tical  forms  at  best  are  merely  national.  Sacra- 
mentarianism  is  superstitious  and  cannot  en- 
dm-e  the  light  of  a  scientific  age.  But  evangel- 
ical Christianity,  incarnated  in  the  experiences 
of  glowing  souls,  is  at  home  in  all  lands,  potent 
in  all  times,  and  unembarrassed  in  any  pres- 
ence. It  is  as  broad  as  human  need,  and  as  pen- 
etrating as  the  Divine  Spirit.  It  is  unshaken 
by  the  assaults  of  infidelity  and  unhindered  by 
the  advance  of  knowledge.  Its  doctrines  of  sin, 
repentance,  justification  by  faith,  the  new  birth, 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  Christian  perfection, 
and  the  life  eternal  after  death  are  certified  by 
the  deepest  wants,  the  highest  aspirations,  and 
the  profoundest  convictions  of  the  race.  No 
discoveries  of  science  can  make  them  appear 
either  more  or  less  true,  and  the  attenuated  the- 
ories of  a  painful  and  changeful  criticism  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  are  but  side  issues  of  minor 
importance  when  brought  into  comparison  with 
them.  If  all  the  conclusions  of  science,  upon 
which  some  rely  to  overthrow  Christianity, 
were  demonstrably  true,  and  all  the  hypoth- 
eses of  a  microscopic  criticism,  upon  which 
others  depend  to  overturn  orthodoxy,  were 
absolutely  established  upon  immovable  bases  of 
fact,  these  great  principles  of  evangelical  Chris- 


Great  and  Far-Beaching  Fads.  301 

tianity  would  remain  entirely  undisturbed. 
They  speak  ^ith  authority  to  all  classes,  from 
th€  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  subdue  the  men 
of  all  races  with  an  unearthly  imperialism.  In 
the  hands  and  heart  of  an  evangelist  like  AYes- 
lej  they  scatter  the  writings  of  Voltaire  like 
ehaff  before  the  blast  of  a  tornado.  Uttered 
even  by  a  plain  lay  preacher  like  Mr.  Moody, 
they  so  enthrall  the  hearts  of  the  multitudes 
that  '^Mr.  Tyndall  and  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  and 
Mr.  Huxley  are  not  much  in  their  minds  while 
the  evangelist  is  around." 

-  These  doctrines,  when  preached  with  the  Holy 
Ghost, sent  down  from  heaven,  produce ^reat  re- 
vivals, which  are  themselves  the  insoluble  prob- 
lem of  the  faithless  and  the  despair  of  the  ar- 
mies of  doubt.  Mr.  Lecky  is  constrained  to 
give  a  large  space  in  his  skeptically  conceived 
histories  to  the  Wesleyan  revival,  and  is  forced 
to  acknowledge  its  benign. influence.  Mr.  Her- 
bert Spencer  feels  impelled  to  preside  over  one 
of  Mr.  .Moody's  meetings  to  raise  funds  for  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  con- 
tributes largely  to  the  collection.  Now  these 
revivals  of  Wesley  and  Moody  and  the  rest  are 
great  and  far-reaching  facts,  and  as  such  they  de- 
mand adequate  explanation.     The  voice  of  mod- 


302      A  Reasonable  Hypothesis  Demanded. 

ern  science  seconds  the  imperative  demand  that 
they  be  accounted  for  by  a  reasonable  hypoth- 
esis. Was  there  in  Mr.  Moody's  natural  pow- 
ers or  Mr.  Wesley's  "environment"  anything 
adequate  to  account  for  the  prodigious  effects 
which  they  accomplished?  Pending  Moody's 
meetings  in  New  York,  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  in 
an  editorial  in  Scrihier'^s  Magazine.^  put  this 
phase  of  the  case  well:  "The  great  men  of  sci- 
ence now  engaged  in  uprooting  the  popular  faith 
in  Christianity  have  a  new  problem  in  science. 
Was  there  enough  in  Mr.  Moody's  eloquence,  or 
personal  influence,  to  account  for  the  effect  pro- 
duced ?  AVould  it  not  be  very  unscientific  to  re- 
gard these  little  means  suflScient  to  account  for 
these  great  results?  It  is  a  fair  question,  and  it 
deserv^es  a  candid  answer.  Until  we  get  this 
answer,  people  who  have  nothing  but  common 
sense  to  guide  them  must  repose  upon  the  con- 
viction that  the  power  which  Mr.  Moody  seemed 
to  wield  was  in  the  truth  he  promulgated,  or 
that  it  emanated  from  a  source  which  he  recog- 
nized as  the  Spirit  of  God." 

The  nations  which  have  come  to  power  along 
with  this  evangelical  Christianity  are  also  a 
problem  for  objectors  to  solve.  Confessedly 
they  are  the  most  enlightened' and  peaceful  and 


The  Answer  of  the  Anf/lo^Saxon  Nations.  303 

prosperous  nations  on  the  globe.  Why?  Wen- 
dell Phillips  said:  "The  answer  to  the  Shastas 
is  India;  the  answer  to  Confucianism  is  China; 
the  answer  to  the  Koran  is  Turkey;  the  answer  to 
the  Bible  is  the  Christian  civilization  of  Prot- 
estant Europe  and  America."  But  more  partic- 
ularly let  us  inquire:  To  what  are  the  puissant 
nations  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  the  answer,  if  not 
to  evangelical  Christianity,  with  its  doctrines  of 
experience,  gospel  hymns,  and  revivals  of  re- 
ligion? Let  the  doubters  answer  this  question 
before  they  have  talked  any  more  about  the  an- 
thropoid ape  and  the  composition  of  the  "poly- 
chrome" Pentateuch.  We  are  a  trifle  surfeited 
with  that  sort  of  academic  cant,  and  wish  a 
change  for  a  rest,  anyhow.  We  wish  something 
more  serious  and  practical.  We  want  to  know 
who  shall  save  the  world  if  these  nations  do  not 
save  it,  and  what  can  save  these  and  all  other 
nations  if  evangelical  Christianity  cannot? 

Still  further,  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
is  a  costly  enterprise,  and  it  will  require  nothing 
less  than  the  powerful  influences  of  an  evangel- 
ical Christianity  to  command  even  the  material 
resources  demanded  for  such  a  task.  Outside 
the  nations  in  which  this  type  of  Christianity  is 
dominant  there  is  neither  the  money  nor  the  en- 


304    Xo  Other  Beligion  Equal  to  This  Task. 

thusiasm  necessary  for  so  vast  an  undertaking. 
Pagan  faiths  are  too  poor  to  pay  their  traveling 
expenses,  and  Christianity  of  the  rationalistic 
or  ritualistic  type  is  too  indolent  and  indifferent 
to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  of 
salvation.  This  was  put  beyond  all  question  by 
the  reports  and  representatives  of  the  Ecumen- 
ical Conference  of  Missions  in  New  York  in 
1900.  We  have  seen  how  missionary  boards 
sprang  up  in  England  and  America  in  the  wake 
of  great  revivals,  and  the  facts  gathered  by  the 
Conference  in  New  York  demonstrated  how 
those  enterprises  have  been  sustained,  from  the 
beginning  until  now,  from  the  same  sources  of 
faith  and  zeal.  No  religion  but  that  of  the 
evangelical  Churches  commands  the  means  or 
cares  for  the  work  of  world-encompassing 
schemes  of  redemption. 

Again,  no  one  Church  is  equal  to  the  task 
of  evangelizing  the  world;  and  if  the  various 
Churches  working  in  foreign  fields  do  not  coop- 
erate with  each  other,  but  fall  to  fighting  among 
themselves  in  the  presence  of  the  heathen,  all  of 
them  together  will  do  something  worse  than  fail. 
On  the  mission  field  only  bodies  pervaded  by  a 
catholic  spirit  are  of  any  avail.  But  the  doctri- 
nal basis  of  evangelical  Christianity  is  the  only 


The  Oniij  Plafform  Wide  Enough,        305 

platform  wide  enough  for  all  parties  to  stand 
harmoniously  upon.  Strifes  about  forms  of  or- 
dinances, doctrines  of  historic  episcopates  and 
apostolic  successions,  and  dogmas  concerning 
forms  of  governments  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tions, appear  ridiculous  to  intelligent  pagans, 
and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  such  worthless 
things  disappear  from  the  home  land,  even, 
whenever  a  great  revival  sweeps  over  the  coun- 
try. These  minor  matters  cannot  be  of  the  es- 
sence of  Christianity,  and  no  amount  of  verbal 
jugglery  or  astute  argumentation  can  make  them 
appear  as  of  prime  importance  to  any  healthy 
mind  which  is  free  from  partisan  bias,  or  to  any 
devout  soul  filled  with  the  joy  of  the  Spirit. 

Moreover,  it  will  take  a  glad,  singing  Chris- 
tianity to  persevere  in  the  evangelization  of  the 
world  until  the  work  is  done.  Any  and  all  other 
sorts  will  weary  of  the  task  and  faint  by  the 
way.  Only  the  evangelical  Churches  have  songs 
and  joy  enough  to  keep  going  till 

Every  kindred,  every  tribe, 

On  this  terrestrial  ball, 
All  majesty  to  Christ  ascribe, 

And  crown  him  Lord  of  all. 

And  this  mighty  enterprise  cannot  be  carried 
to  such  a  culmination  without  the  help  of  the 
20 


306  Laymen  Required. 

lay  element  in  the  Churches.  There  are  not 
enough  men  in  orders  to  do  all  the  work  if  it 
were  wise  to  propagate  Christianity  by  clerical 
hands  alone.  The  lay  element  must  have  a  part 
in  the  last  century  of  Christian  conquest,  as  it 
did  in  the  first  century.  D wight  L.  Moody  and 
John  R.  Mott  are  signs  that  point  in  the  right 
direction  in  this  high  matter.  There  are  schools 
to  be  conducted,  prayer  meetings  to  be  held,  and 
other  work  to  be  done  on  foreign  fields,  which 
will  require  the  fervent  service  of  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  laymen.  It  is  not  money 
alone  that  the  laymen  of  the  Churches  must  sup- 
ply. Their  heads  and  hands  and  hearts  are  need-" 
ed  to  penetrate  and  purify  the  dark  places  in 
the  crowded  cities  of  our  own  and  heathen  lands. 
And  the  multitude  of  laymen  demanded  for  this 
great  service  cannot  be  found  in  sufiicient  num- 
bers, or  with  the  requisite  training,  outside  the 
Churches  which  have  had  their  growth  by  reviv- 
als of  religion.  In  the  other  Churches  the  lay- 
man bears  a  very  inferior  part.  In  truth,  lay- 
men are  not  suited  to  the  work  of  operating  an 
elaborate  ritualism  or  enforcing  a  complicated 
system  of  speculative  dogmas.  Doctrines  which 
can  be  known  experientially,  and  which  can  be 
preached  most  effectively  out  of  a  living  experi- 


When  the  Day  of  Becivcds  Has  Passed.    307 

encc,  are  the  weapons  best  adapted  to  the  use  of 
this  great  infantry  division  of  the  Church  of 
God.  Laymen  can  handle  effectively  the  imple- 
ments of  warfare  belonging  to  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity ;  in  the  use  of  any  other  sort  they  are  awk- 
ward and  incompetent. 

For  all  these,  and  for  other  reasons  that  will 
suggest  themselves  to  a  devout  and  thoughtful 
mind,  it  is  clear  that  evangelical  Christianity  is 
"the  security  of  the  Great  Republic  and  the 
hope  of  the  world."  If  the  movement  of  Provi- 
dence over  the  Anglo-Saxon  nations  is  not  to 
terminate  in  a  blind  alley  and  end  in  a  frustra- 
ted plan,  they  must  advance  in  the  power  of  the 
same  divine  grace  which  hath  led  them  safe  thus 
far.  They  must  continue  to  be  lifted  and 
strengthened  ])y  greater  and  greater  awakenings, 
inspired  and  invigorated  by  greater  and  greater 
revivals  of  religion,  till  their  mission  is  fulfilled. 
Some  would  have  it  believed  that  the  days  of  re- 
vivals have  passed  forever.  If  this  be  true,  the 
end  of  these  revivalistic  nations  is  drawing  near. 
If  the  springs  of  their  greatness  have  run  dry, 
their  leaves  must  soon  wither  and  their  fruit  fail. 
Revivals  will  cease  when  these  nations  fail,  or 
when  their  work  is  done  and  the  crowns  of  their 
eternal  reward  have  been  won.     The  day  of  re- 


308  When  Bevkals  Cease,  What,? 

vivals  will  have  passed  when  the  sun  of  these 
evangelical  people  has  set  to  rise  no  more,  or 
when  the  day  has  dawned  upon  the  final  gov- 
ernment of  the  world — the  New  Jerusalem — not 
built  upon  the  suffrages  of  men,  but  established 
by  the  power  of  God.  Revivals  will  not  cease 
until  sin  has  become  invincible  or  salvation 
universal. 


X. 

THE  NEXT  GREAT  A\yAKENING. 


Talk  about  the  questions  of  the  day;  there  is  but  one 
question,  and  that  is  the  gospel.  It  can  and  will  cor- 
rect everything  needing  correction. — WiUiavi  E.  Qlad- 
stone. 

The  greatness  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  is  con- 
spicuously shown  in  his  passing  by  social  institutions  as 
of  minor  and  inconsiderable  importance,  and  fastening 
his  claims  upon  the  individual.  The  reform  of  personal 
character  was  His  one  aim;  with  Him  the  man  was 
great  and  the  institution  small.  There  was  but  one  way 
with  Him  for  making  a  good  society,  and  that  was  by 
the  purification  of  its  individual  materials.  .  .  .  No 
good  society  can  possibly  be  made  out  of  bad  materials; 
and  when  the  materials  are  made  good,  society  takes  a 
good  form  naturally,  as  a  pure  salt  makes  its  perfect 
crystal  witliout  superintendence. — Dr.  J.  G.  Holland,  in 
*  ^Everyday  Topics. '' 

If  the  hand  of  God  should  be  acknowledged  in  tliat 
work  which  Whitefield  and  Wesley  effected,  can  we 
think  that  that  hand  has  been  withdrawn  from  the 
sphere  of  liuman  affairs?  or  those  high  purposes  which 
then  were  moved  forward  rescinded  or  broken?  Shall 
the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  Meth- 
odism of  the  eighteenth,  and  the  missionary  impulses 
which  followed  hard  upon  it — shall  these  movements 
continue  onward  toward  an  issue  proportionate,  or 
shall  they  stop  short  and  be  looked  back  upon,  ages 
hence,  as  a  dawn  that  was  followed  by  no  day?— /saac 
Taylor. 

(310) 


X. 

THE  NEXT  GREAT  AWAKENING. 

Unless  we  deny  that  the  hand  of  God  was  in 
the  revivals  which  have  blessed  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on nations  so  powerfully  and  so  frequently,  or 
affirm  that  the  divine  hand  has  been  withdrawn 
from  the  sphere  of  their  affairs,  we  must  believe 
there  are  yet  other  great  awakenings  to  come. 
We  can  no  more  believe  that  the  day  of  revivals 
has  passed  than  we  can  accept  the  absurd  notion 
that  the  purposes  of  God  concerning  these  na- 
tions have  been  moving  on  mistaken  lines,  and 
that  those  purposes  are  now  to  be  stopped  short 
and  turned  back  in  order  that  a  more  enlight- 
ened  policy   may  take  their  place.     God  does 
not  thus  abandon  the  work  of  his  hands,  nor 
amend  his  own  motions.     Men  of  philosophic 
mind,   therefore,   look  for  the  continuance   of 
these  heavenly  visitations,  and  many  devout  souls 
are  yearning  for  the  next  great  awakening.   Holy 
men  pray  for  it  and  inquire  what  are  the  signs 
of  its  coming.     Many  feel  that  it  is  not  far  off, 
and  eagerly  advance  to  meet  it. 

(311) 


312  A  Revival  of  llel'uj  10)1  y  Not  a  Beligious  Bevivat. 

What  will  it  be?  And  how  will  it  come  to 
pass  ? 

It  will  be  just  what  all  the  great  revivals  that 
have  preceded  it  have  been — a  revival  of  religion, 
and  not  merely  a  religious  revival.  There  is  a 
wide  difference  between  the  two  things;  a  reviv- 
al of  religion  brings  dead  things  to  life  again, 
while  a  religious  revival  decorates  a  corpse  and 
gilds  a  sepulcher.  The  former  conquers  death, 
and  the  latter  disguises  the  despair  of  the  grave 
with  the  pageantry  of  an  imposing  funeral.  John 
Henry  Newman  and  his  friends  brought  to  pass 
a  religious  revival,  and  in  its  dim,  religious  light 
watched  sorrowfully  by  the  death  couch  of  ex- 
piring faith,  chanting  mournfully,  ^'Lead,  kind- 
ly Light,  amid  the  encircling  gloom . "  John  Wes- 
ley and  his  comrades  under  God  produced  a  re- 
vival of  religion  that  brought  again  life  and  im- 
mortality to  light  in  the  gospel,  and  in  the  buoy- 
ant hope  of  the  new  life  within  them  went  on 
their  glorious  course  singing, 

Faith  lends  its  realizing  light; 

The  clouds  disperse,  the  shadows  fly, 
The  Invisible  appears  in  sight. 
And  God  is  seen  by  mortal  eye. 

The  ''''Apologia pro  Sua  Vita^^  of  Newman  is 
a  volume  devoted  to  a  defense  of  the  Jesuitic- 


Not  a  Social  Beformation  Merely.         313 

al  proceedings  of  one  who  betrayed  one  Church 
while  leaving  it  for  another;  the  vindication  of 
Wesley  is  an  innumerable  company  of  newborn 
souls.  The  influence  of  the  Tractarian  move- 
ment, as  W.  T.  Stead  truly  says,  was  no  more 
than  ' '  a  certain  stimulus  to  the  sensuous  exer- 
cise of  divine  worship;  "  to  which  may  be  added, 
perhaps,  a  limited  recrudescence  of  Romanism 
in  England.  The  effect  of  the  Wesleyan  reviv- 
al of  religion  was  a  regenerated  nation  and  the 
inauguration  of  saving  efforts  and  enterprises 
which  have  reached  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth. 

The  next  great  awakening  will  be  a  revival  of 
religion — not  a  political  reform  nor  a  philan- 
thropic scheme  of  social  amelioration.  It  will 
affect  politics  just  as  the  preaching  of  apostolic 
times  finally  revolutionized  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  just  as  the  Wesleyan  revival  made  possible 
the  ministry  of  the  elder  Pitt  and  made  another 
Walpole  forever  impossible  in  England.  But  it 
will  serve  the  governments  of  earth  by  establish- 
ing in  the  hearts  of  men  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
It  will  not  come  through  the  ministry  of  men 
who  periodically  advertise  themselves  by  pulpit 
assaults  on  municipal  authorities,  and  yet,  like 
the  revival  of  1858,  it  will  do  much  to  cleanse 


314  Kot  a  Cold  Phihtnthropn, 

our  cities  of  corruption.     It  will  do  more  than 
all  reform  schemes  whatsoever. 

It  will  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked,  and 
seek  the  outcast  and  forlorn,  who  have  no  help- 
er. But  it  will  do  so,  not  by  the  cold  calcula- 
tions of  men  who  have  the  processes  of  mental 
arithmetic  and  the  current  prices  of  the  oil 
market  at  their  fingers'  end,  but  by  the  im- 
pulsive and  uncalculating  ofierings  of  souls  that 
love  nuich  because  they  have  been  forgiven  much. 
It  will  make  much  of  the  physical  needs  of  the 
destitute  because  it  will  make  more  of  their  spir- 
itual wants.  It  will  treat  the  impoverished  and 
ignorant,  not  as  animals  requiring  only  food  and 
drink,  but  as  human  beings  whose  first  and  high- 
est necessity  is  salvation.  It  will  convert  rich 
men,  and  from  turning  to  the  Father  in  heav- 
en they  will  be  turned  to  their  needy  brothers 
on  earth.  From  conversions  like  that  on  the 
Damascus  road  multitudes  will  rise  to  acknowl- 
edge a  boundless  obligation  to  God  that  cannot 
be  met  without  assuming  a  limitless  debt  of  serv- 
ice to  men.  From  such  scenes  of  salvation  a 
daring  philanthropy  will  rise,  exclaiming:  "I 
am  debtor  both  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  the  Bar- 
barians; both  to  the  wise,  and  to  the  un- 
wise."    So  have   the    srreat   revivals  of   Wes- 


No  Earth-Bom  Altruism.  315 

ley,    Edwards,    Finney,    and    Moody    inspired 
philanthropy. 

But  the  next  great  awakening  will  not  under- 
take to  save  a  lost  world  by  trying  to  induce  it 
to  throw  around  itself  an  environment  of  earth- 
born  altruism  as  a  cloak  to  warm  itself  back  to 
life  again.     It  will  bring  men  to  a  new  life  by 
showing  them  the  Father,  with  all  his  pardon- 
ing love,  and   that   will   reveal  to   them   their 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  open  the  fountains  of 
their  brotherly    compassion.     The  converts  of 
the  next  great  aw^akening  will  not  be  good  Abou 
Ben   Adhems,  molded  in  the  forms   of   Leigh 
.Hunt's  devising,  but  souls  renewed  in  the  im- 
age of  God,  like  the  generous  Joses  of  the  Acts, 
who,  when  he  w^as  born  again,  under  the  im- 
pulses of  his  new  and  unearthly  life,  "having 
land  sold  it  and  brought  the  money  and  laid  it 
at  the  apostles'  feet,"  for  the  uses  of  the  needy 
members  of  the  infant  Church.     This  effect  of 
a  pure  Christianity  at  its  birth,  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, has  been  repeated  at  every  subsequent  re- 
vival.    Philanthropy  is  not  a  new  thing  in  the 
history  of  our  holy  religion.     It  springs  spon- 
taneously from  the  depths  of  faith  and  flows 
with  a  diminished  or  increased  flow  according 
to  the  fullness  and  force  of  the  faith  in  which 


3l6  Doctrinal  in  Character. 

it  takes  its  rise.  The  next  great  awakening 
will  promote  benevolence  just  because  it  will  be 
a  revival  of  religion. 

And  the  great  revival  will  be  doctrinal  in 
character,  as  all  great  awakenings  have  been  and 
must  be.  The  Holy  Spirit  has  no  instrument 
with  which  to  regenerate  human  souls  but  in- 
spired truth,  and  hence  genuine  revivals  of  re- 
ligion are  characterized  by  the  potent  presenta- 
tion of  the  saving  truths  of  the  gospel.  Limp 
and  hesitating  preaching,  which  proceeds  on 
the  assumption  that  anything  may  be  true 
(which  is  to  say  that  everything  may  be  false), 
never  results  in  a  revival.  A  languid  liberalism 
bears  no  fruit.  It  is  tolerant  because  it  is  tepid, 
and  lifeless  because  it  is  loveless.  Its  first  care 
is  not  the  honor  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
men,  but  the  vain  maintenance  at  any  cost  of 
its  own  reputation  for  broadness  of  view — even 
though  it  be  as  barren  as  it  is  broad.  Men  like 
Paul,  who  change  the  face  of  nations  and  turn 
the  currents  of  history  into  better  channels,  be- 
lieve that  the  gospel  of  Christ  has  a  fixed  and 
inviolable  character,  and  they  do  not  hesitate  to 
anathematize  angels  or  men  who  preach  another 
gospel  than  that  which  has  been  revealed  by 
God.     Such  were  Luther,  Knox,  Ridley,   Ed- 


Not  a  Frigid  Work,  317 

wards,  and  Wesley.  Such  will  be  the  leaders 
of  the  next  great  awakening,  and  of  all  similar 
movements  to  the  end  of  time.  They  will  be 
mighty  in  doctrine,  discarding  all  incoherent 
appeals  to  a  shallow  emotionalism,  whether 
they  be  appeals  to  the  sentimentality  of  a  de- 
clamatory liberalism  or  appeals  to  the  easy-act- 
ing sensibilities  of  a  degenerate  evangelism. 
They  will  not  burn  strange  fire  upon  God's 
altar  nor  mimic  the  Holy  Ghost  in  order  to 
produce  an  excitement  which  has  no  relation  to 
intelligent  conviction  nor  power  in  conforming 
the  human  will  to  the  divine  law. 

By  all  this,  however,  it  must  not  be  under- 
stood that  the  next  great  revival  will  be  a 
frigid,  unfeeling  performance  of  what  some 
call  '^cold  conviction."  The  race  of  man  will 
never  outgrow  its  emotional  nature  unless  it 
shall  become  abnormal  and  be  psychologically 
deformed.  And  as  long  as  there  are  sensibilities 
in  human  bosoms  the  great  transactions  of  the 
soul  in  coming  to  God  and  walking  with  him 
will  betimes  stir  the  heart  to  its  deepest  depths. 
Nor  will  any  degree  of  worthy  culture  intercept 
or  outgrow  the  action  of  the  religious  emotions. 
All  the  great  leaders  of  the  general  revivals  of 
the  past  were  men  of  the  most  affluent  culture; 


318  Men  of  Emotion. 

but,  one  and  all,  they  were  men  of  emotion. 
Paul  was  a  man  of  many  tears.  So  also  were 
Luther  and  the  mighty  men  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  Wesleys  and  Whitefield  were  men 
of  the  profoundest  sensibility.  When  the 
scholarly  Charles  Wesley  sought  to  express 
his   joyous   experience   of   the    new    birth    he 

sang: 

"  I  rode  on  the  sky, 

Freely  justified  1, 
Nor  did  envy  Elijali  his  seat; 

My  soul  mounted  higher 

In  a  chariot  of  lire, 
And  the  mooji  it  was  under  my  feet." 

Even  the  philosophic  Edwards  and  his  calm, 
saintly  wife  often  experienced  and  manifested 
the  most  fervent  states  of  religious  feeling. 
Whitefield  records  in  his  journal  that  w^hen  he 
preached  at  Northampton  ''the  good  Mr.  Ed- 
wards wept  all  the  time  I  was  preaching. "  It  was 
not  depth  of  culture,  but  shallowness  of  piety, 
which  provoked  the  rebuke  of  the  Laodicean 
Church:  "I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  art 
neither  cold  nor  hot:  I  would  thou  >vert  cold  or 
hot.  So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and 
neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my 
mouth."  A  lukewarm  Church  is  the  disgust  of 
God. 


No  New  Dogmas  to.  Come.  319 

Bat  while  the  next  great  awakening  will  be 
doctrinal  and  emotional,  it  will  bring  forward 
no  new  dogmas.  It  can  scarcely  be  expected  to 
recover  even  a  neglected  doctrine,  or  an  over- 
looked phase  of  any  doctrine  that  may  not  have 
been  wholly  neglected  before.  Whitefield,  Ed- 
wards, and  the  Tennents  had  to  recover  the  lost 
truth  of  the  spirituality  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
which  had  been  overlaid  by  an  all-prevalent 
Erastianism,  from  which  even  the  "Venerable 
Stoddard"  did  not  utterly  escape.  Wesley  had 
to  bring  to  light  the  universality  of  the  atone- 
ment, the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  doctrine 
of  human  perfectibility  under  grace — truths 
with  the  preaching  of  which  his  own  devout 
mother  and  his  beloved  Whitefield  did  not  sym- 
pathize at  first,  and  for  the  proclamation  of 
which  even  the  fervent  Toplady  lampooned  him. 
In  the  next  generation  after  Wesley,  when  some 
among  the  evangelicals  had  shown  a  tendency 
to  squint  the  doctrine  of  human  freedom,  it  was 
necessary  for  Finney  to  come  emphasizing,  al- 
most to  an  extreme,  the  truth  that  was  being  let 
slip,  and  so  he  says  of  the  message  he  brought: 
"Instead  of  telling  sinners  to  use  the  means  of 
grace  and  pray  for  a  new  heart,  we  called  on 
them  to  make  themselves  a  new  heart  and  a  new 


320  Final  Truths. 

spirit,  and  pressed  the  duty  of  instant  surrender 
to  God."  But  it  is  very  instructive  to  note  that 
in  the  subsequent  revival  of  1858,  and  in  the  still 
later  revival  of  the  time  of  Moody  and  Sankey, 
not  one  of  the  leaders  in  those  mighty  move- 
ments pretended  to  offer  a  new  or  a  recovered 
doctrine.  There  were  no  such  doctrines  left  to 
discover  or  restore  to  their  due  position.  When 
men  know  the  doctrines  of  justification  by  faith, 
the  new  birth,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and 
Christian  perfection,  what  other  light  this  side 
of  heaven  do  they  want?  All  those  truths  are 
final  truths.  They  only  need  to  be  really  be- 
lieved and  fervently  preached  to  renew  the 
world  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness,  and  in 
the  next  great  awakening  they  will  be  believed 
with  an  intenseness  and  preached  with  a  powder 
never  before  known  since  apostolic  times. 

Current  hypotheses  of  science  and  prevalent 
theories  in  philosophy,  which  have  been  pushed 
illegitimately  into  the  sphere  of  theology,  and 
which  are  irreconcilable  with  these  fundamental 
truths,  will  perish  in  the  flame  of  the  next  great 
awakening,  as  English  deism  and  French  infi- 
delity were  swept  away  by  the  Wesleyan  re- 
vival. Modern  materialism  has  generated  dur- 
ing the  last  decade  a  fatalistic  influence,  which 


Fatal  Fatalism.  321 

must  be  overcome   by  the  reassertion  of  the 
scriptural  doctrine  of  man's  freedom  and  re- 
sponsibility.    The  outworn  terms  of  a  fatalistic 
theology  have  been  substituted  by  the  scientif- 
ic terminology  of  '^heredity,"  '^environment," 
and  such  like— terms  from  which  fatalism  ex- 
udes like  the  inky  fluid  from  the  tail  of  the 
cuttlefish.    Of  course  such  a  philosophy  cannot 
produce  a  moral   sentiment  that  rises  higher 
than  self-pity.     If  it  were  universally  accepted, 
repentance  would  become  a  folly  and  regenera- 
tion a  dream.     "Under  such  a  system  misconduct 
is  only  misfortune;  and  the  soul,  if  it  allows 
that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  immortal  soul, 
is  justified  in  approaching  the  throne  of  grace, 
entering  fearlessly  an  exoneretur  to  the  indict- 
ments of  conscience,  and  withdrawing  from  the 
presence  of  enthroned  Power  and  giving  itself, 
as  best  it  may,  to  a  complacent  despair.     If 
such  a  philosophy  be  allowed,  the  pursuit  of 
truth  ceases  to  be  of  any  interest  or  importance, 
for  why  should  one  seek  light  that  cannot  be 
followed  except  along  the  predetermined  Imes 
of  heredity  and  environment?     It  is  not  even  of 
consequence  to  discover  that  one  is  thus  un- 
changeably conditioned,  since  no  good  can  come 
of  the  discovery.     If  each  life  is  only  the  prod- 
2X 


322  Modern  Materialism, 

uct  of  the  sum  of  environment  and  heredity 
multiplied  by  the  number  of  years  and  links 
that  intervene  between  it  and  the  primitive 
monera,  what  is  the  use  of  worrying  to  make 
even  the  calculation,  since  all  "will  get  to  the 
bottom  all  safe  and  sound,"  in  any  event?  But 
there  is  the  rub;  men  do  not  wish  to  get  to  the 
bottom.  They  wish  to  rise,  and  it  is  high  time 
that  this  doctrine  of  despair  were  rebuked  in 
the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Life,  who  makes  men 
free  indeed,  It  is  time  to  preach  with  new  em- 
phasis that  no  man  is  lost  because  he  cannot  do 
right  and  come  to  God,  but  because  he  will  not 
do  what  he  can  and  will  not  come  to  Christ 
that  he  may  have  life.  The  doctrines  of  mod- 
ern materialism  must  be  overcome,  or  there  is 
an  end  of  all  preaching  and  all  repenting  and 
all  turning  away  from  sin.  They  are  hostile  to 
all  moral  instruction,  discouraging  to  hope,  and 
paralyzing  to  zeal.  They  stretch  above  the 
bowed  head  of  prayer  a  firmament  of  brass,  and 
bind  the  compassion  of  God  with  strong  cables 
made  of  twists  of  his  own  laws.  The  spell  of 
this  delusion  has  lasted  long  enough,  and  the 
hour  has  come  to  arouse  the  people  with  the 
cry,  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from 
the  dead,  and   Christ  shall  give  thee  light." 


Free  Sons  of  God.  323 

One  of  the  raptures  of  the  next  great  awaken- 
ing will  be  the  fact  that  many  will  find,  to  their 
unspeakable  joy,  that  they  are  not  made  to  be 
slaves  of  physical  law,  but  free  sons  of  the 
livino:  God.  The  a^Q  waits  for  a  new  and  more 
powerful  manifestation  than  has  ever  been  be- 
fore seen  of  "the  glorious  liberty  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God."  The  world  needs  to  learn  again 
that  it  is  not  generation,  but  regeneration,  that 
determines  life  and  destiny;  that  it  is  not  an 
earthly  heredity  that  we  need  so  much  to  fear 
as  it  is  a  divine  Fatherhood  that  we  need  to  lay 
hold  of  through  the  atoning  mediation  of  the 
only-begotten  Son.  This  high  truth  will  be 
proclaimed  anew  in  the  next  great  awakening. 

May  we  expect,  then,  great  leaders  such  as  ap- 
peared in  former  awakenings?  Yes,  mightier 
men  than  have  ever  appeared  will  come,  and  they 
w^ill  come  in  clusters  or  galaxies.  Great  men 
have  been  growing  a  little  scarce  in  recent  times, 
perhaps,  and  it  is  no  great  wonder  that  such 
has  been  the  case.  Thomas  Carlyle  says:  "This 
is  an  age  which,  as  it  were,  denies  the  existence 
of  great  men;  denies  the  desirableness  of  great 
men.  Show  our  critics  a  great  man — a  Luther, 
for  example — they  begin  to  what  they  call  'ac- 
count for  him ;'  not  to  worship  him,  but  to  take 


324  The  Doctrine  of  ''Dead  Sticks^ 

the  dimensions  of  him,  and  bring  him  out  a  very 
little  kind  of  a  man.  'He  was  the  creature  of 
the  times,'  thej  say;  the  times  called  him  forth; 
the  times  did  everything:  he  did  nothing  but 
what  we,  the  little  critic,  could  have  done  too! 
This  seems  to  me  but  melancholy  work.  The 
times  call  forth!  Alas!  we  have  known  times  to 
call  loudly  enough  for  their  great  man,  but  they 
did  not  find  him  when  they  called.  He  was  not 
there.  Providence  had  not  sent  him.  The  times 
called  their  loudest  and  had  to  go  down  to  con- 
fusion and  wreck  because  he  would  not  come 
when  called.  I  liken  common,  languid  times 
with  their  unbelief,  distress,  perplexity;  their 
languid,  doubting  character,  im potently  crum- 
bling through  ever  worse  distress  into  final  ruin 
— all  this  I  liken  to  dry,  dead  fuel,  waiting 
for  the  lightning  of  heaven  wdiich  shall  quicken 
it.  The  great  man,  with  his  free,  direct  force 
out  of  God's  own  hand,  is  the  lightning.  All 
blazes  now  around  him.  The  critic  thinks  the 
dry,  moldering  sticks  called  him  forth.  They 
w^anted  him  greatly,  no  doubt;  but  as  to  call- 
ing him  forth!  They  are  critics  of  small  vi- 
sion who  think  that  the  dead  sticks  have  cre- 
ated the  fire.  To  lose  faith  in  God's  divine 
lightning,  and   to   retain   faith   only  in   dead 


Light  in  the  West,  325 

sticks — this  seems  to  me  the  last  consummation 
of  unbelief." 

The  next  great  awakening  will  burn  away  this 
doctrine  of  dead  sticks,  against  which  the  sage 
of  Craigeuputtock  fulminates  so  justly.  It  will 
bring  forth  men,  not  out  of  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  but  out  of  the  birthplace  of  the  eternities. 
The  signs  infallible  will  be  upon  them  in  all  the 
tokens  of  congruity  between  the  operations  of 
grace  within  them  and  the  movements  of  Provi- 
dence around  them;  for  all  men,  knowing  that 
there  is  only  one  God,  will  perceive  that  the  power 
that  works  above  them  and  about  them  is  none  oth- 
er than  He  who  worketh  in  them,  mighty  to  save. 

These  mighty  men  of  God  will  do  something 
more  than  stir  a  local  interest  or  excite  a  tran- 
sient enthusiasm.  Aided  by  all  the  modern  de- 
vices of  transportation  and  communication,  they 
will  be  able  to  extend  their  influence  as  the  re- 
vivalists of  former  times  could  not  project  their 
ministries.  Through  their  efforts  wonders  of 
grace  will  be  wrought  in  heathen  lands.  In 
America  we  may  reasonably  expect  a  great  re- 
vival, the  center  of  which  will  bo  in  the  West, 
and  the  power  of  which  will  be  felt  all  along 
the  Pacific  Coast  as  the  revival  of  1800  filled  with 
new  life  the  Mississippi  basin. 


326  The  Cloud  about  to  More. 

The  time  is  approaching  for  a  general  move- 
ment throughout  the  English-speaking  world. 
Great  revivals  have  preceded  all  the  revolution- 
ary periods  in  the  history  of  these  Anglo-Saxon 
nations.  The  God  of  providence,  who  is  also 
the  God  of  grace,  has  moved  upon  them  in  simul- 
taneous operations  within  and  without.  While 
overruling  wars  and  migi-atious  around  them,  he 
has  revived  faith  and  quickened  zeal  within  them. 
There  are  tokens  now  of  another  such  combined 
movement  of  Providence  and  the  Spirit  upon 
them.  He  has  been  extending  their  borders 
lately.  Their  marching  orders  are  already  pre- 
pared for  another  great  advance.  The  pillar  of 
cloud  shows  signs  of  lifting.  The  battle  hymns 
will  be  ringing  loud  and  clear  presently.  And 
when  the  mighty  movement  advances,  it  will  not 
be  felt  in  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  United 
States  alone,  but,  unlike  any  great  revival  which 
has  gone  before,  it  will  affect  all  Anglo-Saxon- 
dom.  Wherever  the  English-speaking  nations 
have  colonies  or  their  Churches  have  missions, 
the  power  of  this  great  awakening  will  extend. 
Mammonism  at  home  and  paganism  abroad  will 
be  subdued  by  it,  "trade  expanding  into  com- 
merce, and  commerce  rising  into  communion," 


Neio  Songs.  327 

and  communion  inspirin.^  that  consecration 
which  shall  make  sure  the  Christian  conquest 
of  the  world.  Changing  the  figure,  it  will  be, 
not  lakelike  in  its  limits,  but  oceanic  in  breadth 
and  depth  and  fullness,  and  its  currents  will  be 
as  the  tides  of  the  irresistible  sea. 

And  will  the  next  great  revival  bring  new 
songs  with  it?     Certainly.     There  are  no  new 
hymns  without  revivals,  and,  equally,  there  are 
no  great  revivals  which  do  not  inspire  new  hymns. 
When  the  next  revival  comes  there  will  be  pro- 
duced songs  as  tender  as  Sankey's  softest  strains 
and  as  lofty  as  the  sublimest  notes  of  Charles 
Wesley's  pseans  of  triumphant  grace.    And  with 
each  succeeding  movement  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity the  songs  of  Zion  will  grow  sweeter  and 
more  sublime,  until  at  length  the  music  within 
the  gates  of  pearl  and  that  without  the  jasper 
walls  will  be  so  nearly  one  that  the  sensitive  ear 
of  an  archangel  will  scarcely  be  able  to  detect 
the  difference  in  the  notes.     "  Behold,  the  tab- 
ernacle of  God  will  be  with  men,  and  he  will 
dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people, 
and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them  and  be  their 
God.     And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death, 


328  The  Final  Victory, 

neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be 
any  more  pain;  for  the  former  things  are  passed 
away." 

And  all  kingdoms  and  empires  and  republics 
and  dominions  shall  be  lost  in  the  kingdom  of 
Him  "who  is  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate, 
the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords.""  Then 
shall  all  men  see  how  great  a  part  has  been 
borne  by  great  revivals  and  the  Great  Repub- 
lic in  establishing  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth. 


INDEX. 


I  certainiy  think  that  the  best  book  in  the  world 
would  owe  the  most  to  a  good  index,  and  the  worst 
book,  if  it  had  but  a  single  good  thought  in  it,  might  be 
kept  alive  by  \t.— Horace  Buincy. 

So  essential  did  1  consider  an  index  to  every  book 
that  I  proposed  to  bring  a  bill  into  Parliament  to  de- 
prive an  author  who  publishes  a  book  without  an  index 
of  the  privilege  of  cop3'right,  and,  moreover,  to  subject 
him  for  his  offense  to  a  pecuniary  x^enalty. — Lord 
Campbell. 

(330) 


INDEX. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  The  Peace  of,  150. 

Aitkin,  Rev.  W.  H.  M.,  252,  255,  256. 

Alliance,  The  Kvaugelical  207. 

American  Bible  Society,  192-195. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Foreign  Missions, 

192. 
Anglo-Saxon  Nations,  the  supremac}'  of  them,  296  298, 

826. 
Armitage,  Dr.  Thomas,  264. 

Art  and  Religion,  their  effect  on  national  life,  7. 
Asbury,  Bishop  Francis.  144,  145,  153,  154,  156.  198,  199. 
Atheism  and  Anarchy,  11. 
Awakening,  The  Great,  41-100. 

Bacon,  Leonard  Woolse3%  his  "History  of  American 

Christianity"  quoted,  4,  42,  197,  204. 
Baird,  Dr.  Robert,  his  "Religion  in  America"  quoted, 

4,  18-23,  155.  162. 
Balfour,  Alexander,  his  estimate  of  Moody's  \7ork  m 

Liverpool,  257. 
Ball,  Hannali.    and  her  Sunday  school  before  that  of 

Raikes,  144. 
Baltimore,  Lord,  and  the  only  Roman  Catholic  colony 

in  America,  20. 
Bancroft,  George,  quoted,  22. 
Baptists  take  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  with 

Whitefield,  72. 
Barnes,  Dr.  Albert,  on  value  of  revivals.  197. 
Baxter,  Dr.  George  A.,  182. 
Baxter,  Richard,  26.  88;  his  "Call  to  the  Unconverted," 

38.  '"■■'■  ' 

Beecher,  Dr.  Lyman,  (pioted,  168,  189. 

(331) 


332  Index. 

"Bible  ReYival,"  31,  33. 

Birrell,  his  estimate  of  John  Wesley,  132. 

Blackstone,  quoted  on  great  preachers  in  London  in 

eighteenth  century.  111; 
Blaine,  James  G.,  his  estimate  of  Moody,  261. 
Blair,  Samuel,  quoted,  47,  52. 
Blair,  the  Scotch  revivalist,  36. 
Bliss,  P.  P.,  261. 

Boardman,  Richard,  103,  105,  153. 
Bohler,  Peter,  meets  Whitefield,  68. 
Bradbury,  W.  B.,  261 
Brainerd's  missionary  work,  95. 
Brice,  the  Scotch  revivalist,  36. 
Brindley's  Canal,  138. 
Bunyan,  John,  26,  35. 
Burke,  Edmund,  quoted  on  religion  the  basis  of  society, 

6;  on  liberty  separated  from  justice,  141. 
Burr,  Aaron,  165,  175,  200,  279. 
Bushnell,  Horace,  quoted,  16-17. 

Calvin,  John,  34. 

Calvinism  believed,  but  not  preached,  by  Whitefield,  71. 

Camj)  meetings,  the  first,  178. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  quoted,  323. 

Cartwright,  Rev.  Peter,  quoted  on  immorality  in  North- 
west Territory,  173,  208. 

Clark,  Dr.  J.  O.  A.,  his  "Wesley  Memorial  Volume,"  4. 

Coke,  Bishop  Thomas,  154. 

Pole,  Major,  with  Moody  in  London,  255. 

Colleges,  infidelity  in  them  before  revival  of  1800,  167- 
168;  blessed  by  the  revival  of  1800,  188,  190. 

Colonists,  The  early  American,  their  charters,  laws, 
and  characters,  18-24;  compared  with  the  Crusaders, 
16. 

Congress,  The  Colonial,  action  ordaining  a  fast,  9. 

Cook,  Sophia,  suggested  the  Sunday  school  to  Robert 
Raikes,  144. 


Index,  333 

Cooper,  Thomas,  corrupted  colleges  with  his  skepticism, 

168. 
Covenanters,  29. 
Cowper,  William,  98. 
Craumer,  29. 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  177,  185,  186,  206. 

Dartmouth,  Lord,  98. 

Dartmouth  College,  founded,  97. 

Darwin,  Charles,  248. 

Davis,  an  erratic  evangelist  in  Whiteheld's  day,  86. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  155. 

Dearborn,  General,  foe  of  the  Churches,  165. 

Deems,  Dr.  Charles  F. ,  264. 

Dempster,  James,  153. 

DeTocqueville,  on  birth  of  Anglo-American  Society,  14. 

Dettingen,  the  battle  of,  and  Wesleyan  converts,  134. 

Dickinson,   Rev.   Jonathan,   quoted,  47,  52;  visited  by 

Whitefield,  58. 
Disestablishment  of  Religion  in  America,  201,  202. 
Doane,  W.  H.,  261. 
Doddridge,  Rev.  Joseph,  quoted,  174. 
Dodge,  William  E.,  261,  263. 
Drummond,  Henry,  252. 
Dudley,  Lord,  lends  assistance  to  Moody  in  London, 

254. 
Dwight,  Dr.  Timothy,  President  of  Yale  College,  168, 

189,  198,  279. 

Ecumenical  Conference  of  Foreign   Missions  in  New 

York  in  1900,  278,  304. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  on  "Revivals,"  4;    quoted  on  the 

"harvests"  of  the  "Venerable  Stoddard,"  39,  40;  on 

the  great  awakening,  42,  47,  96,  282,  '285;  visited  by 

Whitefield,  75. 
Election,  Doctrine  of,  not  preached  by  Whitefield,  71. 
Embury,  Philip,  104,  105,  153. 


331  Index. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  ou  "last  effort  of  the  Divine 
Providence,"  17. 

Enf^lish  elements  in  colonial  life  in  America,  25. 

Evangelical  Christianity  the  security  of  the  Great  Re- 
public and  the  hope  of  the  world,  281-308. 

Evans,  John,  a  Wesleyan  convert  and  his  remarkable 
heroism  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  136. 

Everett,  A.  B.,  2G1. 

Everett,  Edward,  on  Methodism  and  education,  102,  157. 

Fairbairn,  Principal  A.  M.,  on  Wesley  and  Methodism, 

288. 
Farwell,  John  V.,  261,  263,  265. 
Fatalism,  Modern,  321,  322,  323. 
Field,  Cyrus,  attends  Moody's  meetings  in  New  York, 

265. 
Finney,  Charles  G.,  his  ministry,  208,  209;  at  Oberlin, 

209;  his  doctrine,  319. 
Fischer,  W.  C,  261. 
Fish,  Henry  C,  his  "Handbook  of  Revivals"  quoted, 

4,  26,  204,  220. 
Fitchett,  Dr.  W.  H.,  on  how  Methodism  saved  England, 

117. 
Flavel,  John,  35. 

Fleming,  on  the  reformation  in  Scotland,  34,  37. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  his  speech  in  the  Constitutional 

Convention,   9,  10;  on  the  effect  of  the  great  awak- 
ening in  Philadelphia,  63,  165. 
Frelinghuysen,  Rev.  Theodore  J.,  58. 
French  governments  unstable,  8. 

Galloway,  Bishop  Charles  B.,  his  "Christianity  and  the 

Nation,"  4. 
"Garden  Commissary,"  mistreats  Whitefield,  65,  71. 
Gibson,  Bishop,  quoted,  109. 
Gladstone,  William  E.,  on  Christianity  the  solution  of 

all  problems,  310. 


Index,  335 

Glendenning,  the  Scotch  revivalist,  36. 

Grant,  President  U.  S.,  attends  Moody's  meeting  in 
Philadelphia,  260. 

Green's  "History  of  the  English  People  "  quoted,  14.  IT). 
31,  32,  113,  114,  116,  117,  130. 

Griffin,  Dr.  E.  D.,  189,  191. 

Griswold,  47. 

Giiizot,  on  religion  the  solution  of  social  and  civil  ques- 
tions, 6. 

Haime,  John,  Wesleyan  preaelier  in  the  army  in  Flan-- 
ders,  134-137. 

Hall,  Dr.  John,  264. 

Hall,  Robert,  his  estimate  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  50. 

Handel,  writes  music  for  Wesleyan  hymns,  124. 

Harris,  Howell,  77,  108: 

Harrison,  President  Benjamin  H.,  presides  over  Ecu- 
menicul  Conference  of  Foreign  Missions,  278. 

"Harrison  Freshet,"  210. 

Harvard  College,  faculty  of,  opposes  Whiteheld,  98; 
yields  to  Liberalism,  167. 

Heck,  Barbara,  104. 

Heck,  Paul,  104. 

Holland,  Dr.  J.  G.,  quoted  concerniug  Moody,  232,  265, 
270,  302;  on  purifying  power  of  Christianity,  310. 

Home,  Melville,  148. 

Howard,  John,  and  prison  reform,  144. 

Howe,  John,  35. 

Hughes,  Hugh  Price,  273. 

Huguenots  among  American  colonists,  32. 

Humphrey,  Dr.  Heman,  quoted,  162. 

Hunt,  Leigh,  315. 

Hurst,  Bishop  John  F.,  on  settlement  of  North  Ameri- 
ca. 26,  204. 

Huxley,  Thomas  H.,  248,  270,  301. 

Jackson,  President  Andrew,  210. 


336  Index, 

Jackson,  General  '* Stonewall,"  his  piety,  326. 
Jefferson,  President  Thomas,  his  liberalism,  165,  279. 
Jones,  Dr.  J.  William,  his  "Christ  in  the  Camp  "  quot- 
ed, 4,  226,  227,  229. 

Keener,  Bishop  John  C,  quoted  concerning  religion  in 

the  Confederate  army  in  the  West,  204,  227. 
Kidderminster,  Baxter's  work  there,  38. 
King,  John,  106,  153. 
Kirk,  Edward  N.,  208. 
Kirkpatrick,  W.  J.,  261. 
Kirkton  on  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  34. 
Knox,  John,  29,  81. 

Lamartine  on  French  atheism  and  anarchy,  8. 

Lanphier,  Jeremiah,  in  revival  of  1858,  213. 

Latimer,  29,  30. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  102,  134,  140,  142,  151,  288,  301. 

Lee,  Charles,  his  blasphemy,  165. 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  226,  229. 

Lee,  Jesse,  106. 

Lincoln,  President  Abraham,  155. 

"■  Log  College,"  founded  by  Tennent,  60;  compared  with 

Princeton  University,  61. 
Louis  XIV.,  his  bigotry  and  intolerance,  104. 
"Louisiana  Purchase,"  151. 
Luther,  Martin,  34,  86,  127. 

McAuley,  Jerry,  292. 

McCosh,  Dr.  James,  263. 

McGee,  Rev.  John,  177,  178. 

McGee,  Rev.  William,  177,  178. 

McGready,  Rev.  James,  177. 

Mcintosh,  Rigdon  M.,  261. 

McKendree,  Bishop  William,  181. 

McKinley,  President  William,  279. 

McMaster,  "History  of  the  United  States"  quoted,  193. 


Index,  337 

Martineaii,  Dr.  James,  quoted  on  Wesleyan  hymns,  123. 

Mather,  Dr.  Increase,  on  decay  of  morality  in  New  En- 
gland before  the  great  awakening,  40,  47. 

Meade,  Bishop,  on  infidelity  in  Virginia  before  the  re- 
vival of  1800,  167. 

Mexican  War,  210. 

Mills,  Samuel  John,  190,  192,  194. 

Monroe,  President  James,  210. 

Moody,  Dwight  L.,  his  birth,  237;  goes  to  Chicago,  237; 
in  North  Market  Hall,  238;  Far  well  Hall,  239;  meets 
Sankey,  241;  invited  to  England,  242;  begins  work 
at  York,  England,  242;  at  Sunderland,  243;  at  New- 
castle, 243;  at  Stockton-on-Tees,  244;  at  Carlisle, 
244;  in  Scotland,  at  Edinburgh,  Dundee,  Elgin,  Ab- 
erdeen, Craig  Castle,  Berwick-on-Tweed,  and  Glas- 
gow, 244-247;  in  Ireland,  at  Belfast  and  Dublin, 
247-249;  in  England,  at  Manchester,  Sheffield,  Bir- 
mingham, Liverpool,  and  London,  249-258;  returns  to 
America  and  begins  his  work  in  Brooklyn,  258,  259; 
goes  to  Philadelphia,  Princeton,  and  New  York,  260- 
265;  in  the  South,  at  Augusta,  Ga.,  Louisville,  Ky., 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  266; 
visits  England  the  second  time,  and  conducts  meetings 
at  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  367;  in 
Chicago,  at  World's  Fair  of  1893,  268;  he  was  intense- 
ly biblical,  270;  not  a  liberal,  271;  not  greedy  of  gain 
nor  ambitious  for  applause,  240,  272,  273. 

Moor,  Joshua,  founder  of  "Moor's  Charity  School,"  aft- 
erwards called  Dartmouth  College,  98. 

Moorhouse,  Harr5%  244. 

Mott,  Johnll.,  306. 

Miiller,  Max,  quoted  on  history  of  man  is  history  of  re- 
ligion, 6. 

Nation  Founded  by  Faith,  13-24. 
Nettleton,  Asahcl,  208,  209,  277. 
Newman,  John  Henry,  312. 
22 


338  Index. 

Next  Great  Awakening,  309-327;  probably  in  Far  West. 
325. 

Northwest  Territory,  Congressional  report  concerning 
lawlessness  therein,  172;  irreligion  and  immorality 
of,  172-176;  rescued  by  revival  of  1800,  187. 

Occum,  Samuel,  Indian  convert  and  preacher,  97. 
Owen,  John,  35. 

Paganism  and  despotism,  11. 

Paine,  Thomas,  100. 

Palmer,  H.  R.,  261. 

Papal  power  before  the  Reformation,  28. 

Payson,  Edward,  208. 

Pemberton,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  56. 

Pepperell,  Sir  William,  134. 

Perronet,  Vincent,  his  vision  of  Methodism,  282,  285. 

Phillips,  Philip,  261. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  quoted,  303. 

Pilmoor,  Joseph,  103,  105. 

Pitt,  William,  113,  132,  313. 

Political  systems  and  religious  faith,  11,  12. 

Porter,  Dr.  Noah,  quoted  on  revivals  as  the  hope  of  the 

Church,  282. 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  deliverance  of  in  1798, 

deliverance  in  1^00,  181. 
Prince's  "Christian  History"  quoted,  14,  57. 
Princeton  University  and  the  "Log  College,"  61,  97, 

168;  visited  by  Moody,  263. 
Protestants  settled  American  colonies,  20,  27,  32,  33. 
Puritans,  27. 

Quebec,  the  battle  of,  151. 

Radstock,  Lord,  aids  Moody's  work  in  London,  254. 
Raikes,  Robert,  and  his  Sunday  school,  144. 
Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  quoted,  144. 


Index:  339 

Rankin,  Thomas,  153. 

Rees,  Rev.  Arthur,  248. 

Reformation,  The  Lutheran,  was  a  revival,  25,  26,  28, 
29,  33,  34. 

Reformation  in  Scotland,  34. 

Religion  and  national  life,  5-12. 

Revival,  The,  of  1800,  161-202. 

Revival,  The,  of  1858,  208-230. 

Revival,  The,  in  days  of  Moody  and  Sankey,  231-280. 

Revival,  The  Wesleyan,  101-160. 

Revivals  in  Old  World  Gave  Rise  to  Colonies  in  the  New, 
25-40. 

Rice,  Rev.  David,  183. 

Ridge,  the  Scotch  revivalist,  36. 

Ridley,  the  English  martyr,  29,  80. 

Rodda,  Martin,  153.' 

Romanism  and  civil  freedom,  12,  28. 

Roosevelt,  President  Theodore,  quoted,  162,  278. 

Rowland,  Rev.  John,  58. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  quoted  on  religion  tlie  basis  of  civil  so- 
ciety, 6. 

Ryle,  Bishop  J.  C,  his  "Christian  Leaders  of  the  Last 
Century"  quoted.  111,  282. 

Sankey,  Ira  D.,  meets  Moody,  241;  invited  with  Moody 
to  England,  242;  labors  with  Moody  in  England, 
Scotland,  Ireland,  and  America,  242-280;  creates  a 
type  of  sacred  song,  267. 

Sargent's  Stockbridge  Mission,  95. 

Schermerhorn,  John  F.,  labors  with  Samuel  John  Mills, 
192,  194. 

Seccomb,  Rev.  John,  52. 

Seeker,  Archbishop,  110. 

Seeley,  Prof.,  quoted  on  the  function  of  religion  to  found 
States,  6. 

Seward,  William,  Whitefield's  companion  and  colabor- 
er  in  America,  54,  68, 


340  Index, 

Shadford,  George.  153. 

Shaftesbury,  the  Earl  of.  assists  Moody  in  London,  254, 
255. 

Smith,  Gold  win,  on  migration  of  mankind.  15. 

Smith,  Sydney,  sneers  at  the  Methodists,  141. 

South ey,  Robert,  quoted  on  Wesleyan  hymns,  123;  his 
estimate  of  John  ^yesle3^  132. 

Speers,  Dr.  William,  "The  Great  Revival  of  1800."  4. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  presides  in  a  Moody  meeting  at  Man- 
chester, 250,  270,  801 

Spring,  Dr.  Gardner,  quoted,  162. 

Stalker,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.,  256. 

Stanley,  Dean  Arthur  Penrose,  254;  quoted  on  Metho- 
dism, 102. 

Stead,  W.  T.,  quoted  on  revivalism,  92;  on  influence  of 
Methodism  in  unifying  the  English-speaking  peoples, 
159;  on  Moody  and  Sanke^^  232;  on  John  Henry 
Newman's  work,  313. 

Stephens,  William,  his  "Journal  of  the  Proceedings  in 
Georgia"  quoted,  64,  70. 

Stewart  quoted  on  revival  in  Ireland,  37. 

"Stewarton  Sickness,"  37. 

Stevens,  Dr.  Abel,  on  Whitefleld's  work  in  America,  81, 
82. 

Stoddard,  "The  Venerable,"  39,  45. 

Stone,  Rev  Barton  Warren,  quoted  on  revival  of  1800, 
178-180. 

Stowe,  Baron,  quoted,  218. 

Strawbridge,  Robert,  105,   153. 

Stuart,  George  H.,  President  of  Christian  Commission, 
239,  261,  263. 

Summerfield,  Rev.  John,  208. 

Sweney,  John  R.,  261. 

Taylor,  Isaac,  on  Wesley  and  Methodism,  4,  102,  112, 

310. 
Taylor.  Rowland,  his  martvrdom,  30. 


Index,  341 

Taylor,  Bishop  William,  255. 

Taylor,  Dr.  William  M.,  264. 

Tennents,  The,  47. 

Tennent,  Charles,  55,  63. 

Tennent,  Gilbert,  51,  55,  56,  59,  68;  goes  to  Boston  at 

Whitefield's  suggestion,  75,  77. 
Tennent,  John,  55. 
Tennent,  William,  Jr.,  51,  55,  63,  95. 
Tennent,  William,  Sr.,  meets  Whitefield,  55;  his  "Log 

College,"  55,  59;  visited  by  Whitefield,  59. 
Thompson,  Peter,  273. 
Threlfell,  Secretary  of  Labor  Association  of  England, 

his  estimate  of  Methodism,  288. 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  attends  Moody's  meetings  in  New 

York,  265. 
Toplady,  lampoons  Wesley,  319. 
Tracy's  "The  Great  Awakening"  quoted,  4. 
Trumbull,  James  Hammond,  on   effects    of    the  great 

awakening,  88. 
Tyerman's  biographies  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  4. 
Tyndall,  Prof.  John,  248,  270,  301. 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  first  seat  in  the  house  built 
for  Church  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  68,  78. 

Van  Buren,  President  Martin,  210. 
Varley,  Henry,  255. 

Virginia,  charter  of  the  colony  quoted,  14. 
Voltaire,  166,  301. 

Walpole,  Horace,  112,  113.  313. 

Wanamaker,  Hon.  John,  261. 

Ware,  Henry,  167. 

Washington,  General  George,  his  order  requiring  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath  in  the  army,  9;  first  congrat- 
ulated l)y  the  Methodists,  104;  extract  from  his  "  Fare- 
well Address,"  166,  167. 


312  Index. 

Watts,  Dr.  Isaac,  liis  liyinns  and  tho  hymns  of  Cliaiifts 
Wesley  compared,  124. 

Watts,  James,  inventions  of,  138,  KJS). 

Webb,  Captain,  of  the  British  Army,  and  one  of  the 
early  ISIethodists,  104. 

Webster,  Daniel,  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  97. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  attends  Moody's  meetings  in  New 
York,  265. 

Wesley,  Charles,  the  sweet  singer  of  Methodism,  115; 
his  hymns  compared  with  the  hymns  of  Watts,  124; 
his  song  on  conversion,  318. 

Wesley,  John,  makes  converts  in  Ireland  who  come  to 
America,  104;  sends  preachers  to  America,  103;  words 
on  leaving  America,  103;  Birrell's  estimate  of  him,  132, 
W.  H.  Fitchett's  estimate  of  him,  118;  Southey's  esti- 
mate of  him,  132;  W.  T.  Stead's  estimate  of  him,  159, 
IGO;  his  doctrine  of  "perfection,"  121,  122;  theembod- 
i'ment  of  the  Methodist  movement,  115,  116,  118,  127; 
his  own  estimate  of  the  Wesleyan  moA^ement,  128;  his 
song  on  his  success,  128;  number  of  his  followers  at 
his  death,  130;  his  long  life,  and  his  death  when  eighty- 
eight  years  of  age,  116,  128;  estimate  of  him  b}^  Hon. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  287. 

Wesleyan  Revival,  101-160;  length,  126,  127;  great  and 
rapid  growth,  128,  129;  doctrinal  basis,  119,  121;  in- 
spired the  spirit  of  freedom,  120;  its  perfect  gospel, 
122;  its  songs,  123;  gives  a  Church  to  America,  125;  in- 
fluence on  army  and  artisans  of  Great  Britain,  133;  its 
influence  on  industrialism,  138-140;  checks  French  in- 
fldelity,  141,  142,  320;  introduced  an  era  of  philanthro- 
py, 143;  inspired  the  Sunday  school  movement,  144; 
fostered  popular  education,  146,  150,  157;  produced  a 
literature,  147;  gave  birth  to  various  benevolent  and 
missionary  enterprises,  148;  gave  North  America  to 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  150;  promoted  unity  of  Eng- 
lish-speaking nations,  159. 

Wheelock,  Rev.  Eleazar,  47,  97. 


Index-.  3^3 

Whipple,  E.  P.,  on  the  effect  of  migrations  on  forms 

of  national  life,  15. 
Whitetield,  George,  his  conversion,  53;  his  coming  to 
America,  48,  51,  53;  his  ordination,  53;  preaches  first 
in  open  air,  53;  "gospel  roaming"  in  America,  54-79; 
personal  appearance,  57,  58;  visits  Jonathan  Dickin- 
son, 58;  meets  Gilbert  Tennent,  58;  visits  Gen.  James 
Oglethorpe,  G4;  he  is  ill-treated  by  "Commissary  Gar- 
den," 65,  71;  meets  Peter  Bohler,  68;  visits  the  Saltz- 
burgers  at  Ebenezer,  70;  will  not  preach  the  doctrine 
of  election,  although  he  accepts  it,  71;  "  open  commun- 
ion "  with  the  Baptists  and  others,  72;  visits  New 
England  first,  73;  the  devil  and  a  doctor  of  divinity, 
73;  on  Boston  Commons,  74;  sends  Gilbert  Tennent 
to  Boston,  75;  visits  Jonathan  Edwards,  75;  writes 
Howell  Harris  of  work  in  America,  77;  preaches  at 
Philadelphia  in  a  roofless  house  which  was  subse- 
quently the  first  seat  of  the  University  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, 78;  at  the  close  of  the  year  1740,  takes  passage  for 
England,  79;  second  and  subsequent  visits  to  America, 
80;  estimate  of  his  work  by  Abel  Stevens,  81,  82;  char- 
acteristics of  his  work,  82-85;  his  Calvinism,  84,  85. 

Whittaker,  Nathaniel,  98. 

Whittle,  Major,  265. 

Wickliffe,  86,  97. 

Williams,  Robert,  early  Methodist  preacher,  105,  153. 

Williams  College,  revival  in,  190. 

Wright,  Hon.  Carroll  D.,  quoted  on  infiuence  of  Wesley 
and  Methodism,  287. 

Yale  College,  Alma  Mater  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  50;  op- 
posed Whitetield,  98;  succumbs  to  liberalism,  168;  re- 
vivals in  the  institution  through  the  infiuence  of  Dr. 
Timothy  Dwight  Alluring  his  presidency  of  the  college, 

189,  190. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  first  organized,  207; 
influence  of,  in  the  revival  of  1858,  207;  Moody's  work 


344  Index. 

in  the  organization,  239;  invited  Moody  to  Sunder- 
land, England,  243;  Moody  makes  collections  to  pro- 
mote its  work  in  various  places,  250,  253,  202,  205; 
Herbert  Spencer  presides  in  meeting  for  its  benefit  in 
Manchester,  England,  250. 


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